Riehen Contemplates Votes For The Young; Bridge Closure Is Extended; Pick-E-Bike Expands To Liestal

News For 22 August 2023

The municipality of Riehen, which is also a neighborhood of the city of Basel Stadt, is contemplating extending the right to vote to 16 year olds.  The idea was discussed and recommended favorably by the Residents' Council back in June.  However, since then the SVP political party has collected over 1000 signatures opposing the initiative.  The residents of the municipality will vote in March whether the voting age will be lowered.  At stake are approximately 300 new votes according to the latest demographic information available.  

**********

The Margarethen bridge connecting the Vorstadt and Gundeli quartiers in Basel has been closed to tram and bus traffic since May due to safety concerns.  The closure has been a headache for commuters traveling to and from the city center or the Hauptbanhof.  It seems the pain will last a lot longer.  Originally, the SBB had planned to install bridge supports by this autumn.  Unfortunately, the construction remediation now won't be completed until March of next year.  The Margarethen bridge remains open to pedestrians, bicycles and private vehicles.

**********

Pick-E-Bike, the E-Bike and E-Scooter-sharing operator subsidiary of the BLT, Basel's Tram operator - is expanding to Liestal, capital of the canton of Basel Land.  Last year, the App which users access to book one of 480 e-bikes or 95 e-scooters for rental was used over 240,000 times.  By expanding to Liestal, Pick-E-Bike hopes to especially meet the needs of hospital staff at the Baselland Cantonal Hospital which has two campuses in Bruderholz and Liestal that are not easily commutable using existing public transportation options.