The way I understand "hinterland" is "the geographical area where goods from the harbour can easily be transported to". This can be over water (river or canals), but also by train or truck.
"The worldken of this behaving, in all its manifold ways, is
called minglingken."
Funny, the Dutch word for chemistry is "scheikunde", which would be more like "breakupken" ("scheiden" = to separate). Although I think "minglingken" sounds better...
Ghent (Belgium) has also done this for several years already. Among others, my kids' school uses this for local activities such as going to one of the city parks (a weekly activity in certain years/classes); only the teacher and non-local kids don't ride for free, total cost for the school is much less.