The Shopping Shuttle in the city of Mechelen, Belgium, had its best year ever last year by a wide margin. The shuttle service, which was expanded last year, was allowed to transport as many as 100,994 people in 2024. “The shopping shuttle has become a fixture for visitors from Mechelen and far beyond, keeping a lot of search traffic out of the city, which increases both the livability and safety of our city,” said Alderman for Mobility Alexander Vandersmissen.

The Shopping Shuttle in the city of Mechelen, Belgium, had its best year ever last year by a wide margin
The Shopping Shuttle in the city of Mechelen, Belgium, had its best year ever last year by a wide margin
@Visit Mechelen

29,595 more people boarded the shopping shuttles last year than in 2024, up from 71,399 to 100,994 commuters, a 41% increase. “We are already very pleased that more and more people are finding their way to our shopping shuttle and that we will even pass the 100,000-user mark in 2024,” states Alderman for Mobility Alexander Vandersmissen.

This spectacular figure obviously makes us very satisfied. Nevertheless, we want to further optimize the service of the shuttles and possibly expand it ourselves. If we look at the occupancy of our three, namely the shuttle to the Nekker, the one to Mechelen south and the boat shuttle, we transported 1870 boarders weekly. The shopping shuttle boosts local commerce, hospitality and our cultural sector, and offers visitors a good solution to leave their cars safely and for free. With the shuttle, we significantly reduce the search traffic in our city and offer a sustainable last-mile solution.” said the city’s alderman for mobility.

Since February last year, the shuttles, which are co-supported by merchants’ association Mechelen MeeMaken, do run on Wednesdays (1-7 p.m.), Fridays (1-24 p.m.) and Saturday evenings (7-24 p.m.) in addition to Saturdays and shopping Sundays.

Gratis Bootshuttle stad Mechelen richting Parking Keerdok
Free Boat shuttle city of Mechelen towards Parking Keerdok
@Verschueren Eddy

Even if we abstract from that, the shopping shuttle can still present a nice increase of 19% more opstappers“, points out alderman Vandersmissen. “On shopping Sundays, the increase is even more striking. The number of travelers from the Nekker increased by 60%, from Mechelen south by 37% and via the boat shuttle by 50%. This is more than we had dared hope for. So this year, at the start of the new administration, we want to continue to closely monitor how we can sustain or even expand the success. We see that people appreciate this service and that by extending driving hours visitors also come to the center in the evening or stay there longer and, for example, still go out to a restaurant or take in cultural activities. In this way we are responding to both the needs of our business owners and visitors.

All info about the shuttle can be found at https://www.mechelen.be/auto/shoppingshuttle. There you will find all the latest updates, ride times and routes.

The Shopping Shuttle is an initiative of City of Mechelen and Mechelen Meemaken.

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