Open Data Insight of the Day

The Canton of Basel-Stadt monitors motorized traffic, cycling, and pedestrian flows to gain insights into how people move through the city over time and across locations. This data is crucial for evidence-based transport planning, improving road safety, and assessing environmental impacts and the effectiveness of mobility policies. In January 2026, Basel recorded a total of 9,222,818 motorized vehicles, 1,769,628 pedestrians, and 1,225,251 bicycles. The city utilizes 48 counting stations for motorized traffic, 29 for bicycles, and 26 for pedestrians.

Motorized traffic is categorized into various street types, with 48 stations distributed across these categories. The station with the highest motorized traffic in January 2026 was A3-A35, Grenze CH-F, with 744,004 vehicles. Figure 1 illustrates the map of active stations during this month. Figure 2 presents the average weekday traffic at the Heuwage station, highlighting commuter flows. Detailed results for all active motorized traffic counting stations in January 2026 are available in Table 1 and Table 2, which also compare the month's data with the average monthly values over the past year and the same month in the previous year.

For pedestrians and bicycles, Basel has 26 and 29 counting stations, respectively. The pedestrian station with the most traffic was at Gerbergasse, a popular shopping street, as shown in Figure 3, which highlights higher traffic on weekends from noon to 4 pm compared to weekdays. The bicycle station with the most traffic was Wettsteinbrücke, as depicted in Figure 4, where weekday and weekend lines demonstrate the impact of bike commuters on weekdays.

Table 2 compares traffic data from January 2026 with the same month in the previous year, considering only stations active in both years. There was a 17.4% decrease in bicycle traffic, a 25.69% decrease in motorized traffic, and a 14.73% decrease in pedestrian traffic, with an increasing proportion of total stations. The data for January 2026 showed no significant difference from the average of the last 12 months. It is expected that bicycle traffic is lower in winter months and higher in spring, summer, and fall.

For those interested in exploring more about Basel's traffic patterns, the traffic counting dashboard provides comprehensive insights and data visualizations.