International bus station: Basel's calling card

For years, the so-called international bus station on Meret Oppenheim-Strasse has consisted of a narrow pavement, a small display board and a single, hard-won mobile TOITOI toilet. This facility, which is unworthy of Basel and especially of the Gundeli district, is neither wheelchair-accessible nor weather-protected. As a stopgap solution brought about by the SBB's long-standing construction work, this location is used by several coaches as a departure and arrival point, with an estimated 250 to 500 passengers per day.

The consequences are well known: located directly in front of the Purple Park youth club, the bus stop encourages tourists unfamiliar with the area to misuse the skate park as a rubbish dump. There are also people who relieve themselves in the facility because the TOITOI is unkempt and smelly. The nearest public toilet facility consists of a single toilet, is not accessible to disabled people from Meret Oppenheim-Strasse and is difficult to find anyway, tucked away under the footbridge.

Assuming that Meret Oppenheim-Strasse will continue to take shape in the coming months, questions about a good, sensible bus station have been raised for a long time. In the Gundeldinger Zeitung newspaper on 6 September 2023, the SBB was quoted as saying that the temporary ‘international bus station’ would remain in place until the end of 2025. It is now October 2025, and we express our hope that the plans for a new bus station will include optimal waiting and sanitary facilities. There are fears that, if the plans are misguided, tourists will continue to seek out bushes to relieve themselves and dispose of their rubbish.

Translated with DeepL.com (free version)