Basel traffic drops sharply in July 2026 across all modes

August 3, 2026

In July 2026, Basel's counting stations recorded 10.78 million vehicles, with motorized traffic down 12.3 percent and bicycle traffic down 37.32 percent compared to July 2025. The busiest motorized station was Grosspeterstrasse 45, while Wettsteinbruecke led bicycle counts, and pedestrian traffic showed higher weekend activity at locations like Gerbergasse.

Photo: Nabeel Syed, Traffic, on Unsplash, licensed under Unsplash License.

In July 2026, a total of 10,781,955 vehicles were recorded across Basel’s counting stations. The network included 32 stations for motorized traffic, 29 for bicycles, and 26 for pedestrians.

Motorized traffic is categorized by street type, with stations distributed across main roads, residential streets, and border crossings. The station with the highest monthly motorized traffic was Grosspeterstrasse 45, which recorded 878,476 vehicles. Figure 1 shows the map of stations active in July 2026. Figure 2 shows the average weekday traffic for station Heuwage, illustrating the flow of commuters. Detailed results for all active motorized traffic counting stations in July 2026 can be found in Table 1 and Table 2. These tables also compare the month of interest with the average monthly values for the last 12 months and with the same month of the previous year.

For pedestrians and bicycles, 26 and 29 counting stations were active respectively. The busiest bicycle station was Wettsteinbruecke, with 282,797 bicycles counted. Figure 3 shows a pedestrian counting station at Gerbergasse, a popular shopping street. The figure highlights traffic differences on weekends and weekdays, showing considerably higher traffic on weekends from noon to 4 pm than on weekdays. Similarly, Figure 4 shows a bicycle traffic station on Wettsteinbrücke. Weekend and weekday lines clearly show the impact of bike commuters on weekdays.

Table 2 compares motorized, bicycle, and pedestrian traffic between July 2026 and July 2025, using only stations active in both years. Motorized traffic decreased by 12.3 percent, bicycle traffic by 37.32 percent, and pedestrian traffic by 86.67 percent. The number of stations with higher traffic compared to the previous year was 9 for motorized traffic, 7 for bicycles, and 0 for pedestrians. The difference between July 2026 and the average of the last 12 months was zero percent for all categories, as the data indicates no change. For winter months, bicycle traffic is expected to be lower, while in summer, spring, and fall, bicycle numbers are expected to be higher.

For readers who want to know more about Basel’s traffic, visit the traffic counting dashboard.


Table 1: Monthly and average daily mororized vehicles Counts for all Stations
station total Month Avg Daily Max Daily Avg Monthly last 12m Avg Daily last 12m Max Daily last 12m
Grosspeterstrasse 45 849724 26554 32325 803905 26891 34775
A3-A35, Grenze CH-F 785049 24533 41312 906963 29238 43649
Hochbergerstrasse 55 609674 19052 24349 638768 20590 26434
Dreirosenbrueke lokal (mit Ein-/Ausfahrten) 580187 18131 22912 596925 19219 24919
Dorenbachviadukt 473466 14796 18542 480206 15466 20084
Zoll CH-D, Freiburgerstrasse 441909 13810 17883 426357 13990 19760
Grenzacherstrasse 511 425126 13285 16767 382230 14992 20314
Wasgenring 62 420293 13134 16439 414321 13789 17481
Wettsteinbruecke 384915 12029 16029 412347 13287 17907
Flughafenstrasse 30 365817 11432 14458 332203 10856 14458
Viaduktstrasse (Rialto) 341207 10663 13854 327721 10580 14825
Aeussere Baselstrasse 381 (Riehen) 324387 10137 12717 349410 11976 15555
Heuwaage-Viadukt 317947 10964 18053 485504 16329 25343
Zoll CH-D, Hiltalingerstrasse 292417 9138 12350 321832 10305 13923
St. Alban-Anlage 72 266395 8325 10640 291052 9533 12919
Zoll CH-D, Loerracherstrasse 256050 8002 10113 236205 7918 14088
Schlachthofstrasse 246619 7707 10774 214118 7861 12003
Elsaesserstrasse Zoll 239599 8557 10104 269549 8820 16499
Luzernerring-Brücke 238001 7438 10162 201443 6900 10526
Zoll CH-D, Grenzacherstrasse 235312 7354 10544 271085 8718 12172
Fasanenstrasse (DB-Bruecke) 188306 5885 7165 234327 7903 11833
Baeumlihofstrasse (Riehen) 143869 4496 5832 80054 3065 6086
Dornacherstrasse 49 122016 5084 6380 159026 5628 7402
Elsaesserstrasse Bell 117816 3801 4999 132338 4278 6187
Elsaesserstrasse 146 115420 3607 4622 101955 3524 4622
Zoll CH-D, Weilstrasse 112978 3531 4222 108340 3865 51534
Jakob-Burckhardt Strasse 85891 2684 3578 94189 3035 4624
Gundeldingerstrasse 107 46820 6689 9321 214447 7558 10436
Sevogelstrasse 91 43953 1374 1874 55313 1786 2948
Johanniterbruecke 18732 4683 11308 37741 6667 13437
Flughafenstrasse, Grenze CH-F 11152 349 11089 182924 6274 14299


Table 2: Comparison of Monthly Traffic: July 2026 with July 2025

Figure 1: Map of counting Stations in July 2026

Figure 2: Average Hourly Weekday Traffic at Station "Dorenbachviadukt" in July 2026

Figure 4: Hourly Average Pedestrian Counts on Weekdays and Weekends at Gerbergasse Station

Figure 5: Hourly Biclycle Traffic on Weekdays and Weekends

Data source: OGD Portal-BS, Verkehrszähldaten motorisierter Individualverkehr, Dashboard Verkehrszählung
Additional resources: https://verkehrszaehldaten-visualisierung-2017.opendata.digisus-lab.ch/#!

🤖 This text was generated with the assistance of AI. All quantitative statements are derived directly from the dataset listed under Data Source.