31-day car-free challenge changes habits for some Basel residents

SRF reports that Basel’s 31-day Mobility Challenge has led some participants to give up their cars, while others have returned to driving after the trial.

Sonja Langlotz, a pensioner from Therwil, had driven for 45 years before taking part in the challenge between September and November 2025. She initially planned to leave her car unused for just one month after learning on Facebook that participants would receive a free SBB Generalabonnement, or GA, for the trial period.

The challenge requires participants to leave their own cars unused for a month. In return, they receive a trial SBB GA, free access to bicycles, electric bicycles and electric scooters from PubliBike and Dott, and registration plus a 30-franc credit for Mobility car-sharing vehicles.

Basel-Stadt canton organised the challenge with Alliance Swisspass, the public transport industry organisation, and the climate cooperative 42hacks. The project is intended to encourage people to examine their travel habits and try different sustainable forms of transport. It also supports the canton’s goal of becoming climate-neutral by 2037.

After the trial ended, Langlotz had become a committed public transport user and sold her car. She now travels by tram, bus, train, boat and cable car, using all the vehicles covered by her GA.

“I travel more now that I no longer have a car,” Langlotz said. She has discovered places she would not have noticed while driving, including an old bunker near a bus stop. She also travels frequently across Switzerland for voluntary work and says train travel is easier. Her monthly costs have fallen because the car had cost several hundred francs a month, in addition to repairs.

Rolf Thommen, who also took part in the challenge, reached a different conclusion. He enjoyed using the GA during the trial but kept his car afterwards. He said he had no emotional attachment to it and often travelled by bicycle and tram, while he and his wife mainly used the car at weekends.

For Thommen, the car’s convenience was decisive. It is always available, can be used spontaneously, allows them to transport items and does not require planning. He and his wife chose a regional public transport pass because it is usually sufficient and, together with the cost of their car, cheaper than buying two GAs.

The couple had nevertheless embraced the challenge and scheduled days off so they could make full use of the GA. Thommen said the trial had not significantly changed his travel habits.

Alliance Swisspass says the project started well despite not everyone switching from cars to public transport. After challenges in Bern, Winterthur and Basel, it plans to expand the programme across German-speaking Switzerland and later make it available throughout Switzerland.