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Private company

Basler Verkehrs-Betriebe

Logo: Unknown author Unknown author, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons3

Swiss public transport operator

Basler Verkehrs-Betriebe (BVB) is a public transport operator in the Swiss city of Basel, and is wholly owned by canton of Basel-Stadt, which consists of city of Basel and the municipalities of Bettingen and Riehen. The BVB was founded in 1895, and became a self-governing public corporation on 1 January 2006. It transports 132 million passengers per year, an average of roughly 360000 per day.2 It employed 1,243 people in 2020.1 Its revenue was CHF 222 million in 2018.1 Wikipedia text CC BY-SA 4.0

Last updated Oct 21, 2026.

Overview

1946Founded1
  • Industrypublic transport1
  • HeadquartersBasel1
  • Websitewww.bvb.ch

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Basler Verkehrs-Betriebe (BVB) is a public transport operator in the Swiss city of Basel, and is wholly owned by canton of Basel-Stadt, which consists of city of Basel and the municipalities of Bettingen and Riehen. The BVB was founded in 1895, and became a self-governing public corporation on 1 January 2006. It transports 132 million passengers per year, an average of roughly 360000 per day. It operates 128 motor trams and 74 trailers on 9 tram routes, as well as 99 buses on a total of 13 bus routes. These are kept operating by 1200 employees.2

The story

Heinrich Imhoff was the pioneer of the Basler tramways who in 1880 obtained the concession from the local government in Basel to operate a horse-drawn "Tramomnibus". On 11 July 1881, a horse-drawn omnibus, popularly known as the "Rösslitram", began to operate. According to a fixed timetable, it connected the Badischer Bahnhof (which at that time stood at today's Messeplatz) with the Centralbahnhof (today's SBB railway station) crossing the Rhine over the Middle Bridge every 20 minutes. There were 6 coaches and 42 horses in service. The journey from station to station took 22 minutes. The Rösslitram ran without rails like a normal carriage on the road. The carriages were pulled by two horses, and a third horse had to be harnessed for each ascent on the Steinenberg. The operators were often negotiating for a better concession from the city of Basel and in 1892 the city council of Basel decided to build their own tramway.

From Wikipedia’s article on Basler Verkehrs-Betriebe, shared under CC BY-SA 4.0.4

Products and brands

  • tram

Listed on Wikidata.1

Subsidiaries and ownership

Owners

  • Canton of Basel-Stadt

From Wikidata.1

Employees over time

  • 20201,2431

Revenue over time

As stated on Wikidata, in the currency reported.

Revenue

  • 2018221.5M CHF1

Timeline

  1. 1946Founded Founded1

Sources

The numbers on this page point here. Each one links to the record it came from.

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