diff --git a/dist/tools/tapsetup/tapsetup b/dist/tools/tapsetup/tapsetup
index 39e2df705cb4..96043225282c 100755
--- a/dist/tools/tapsetup/tapsetup
+++ b/dist/tools/tapsetup/tapsetup
@@ -103,8 +103,8 @@ add_ipv6_routes() {
         fi
         case "${PLATFORM}" in
             FreeBSD|OSX)
-                route -n add -interface ${BRNAME} -inet6 -prefixlen ${route_prefix_len} \
-                    ${route_prefix} ${next_hop} || exit 1
+                route -6n add ${route_prefix} -interface ${BRNAME} \
+                    ${next_hop} || exit 1
                 ;;
             Linux)
                 ip route add ${route_prefix}/${route_prefix_len} \
@@ -200,8 +200,8 @@ del_ipv6_routes() {
         fi
         case "${PLATFORM}" in
             FreeBSD|OSX)
-                route delete -interface ${BRNAME} -inet6 -prefixlen ${route_prefix_len} \
-                    ${route_prefix} ${next_hop} || exit 1
+                route -6 delete ${route_prefix}/${route_prefix_len} \
+                    -interface ${BRNAME} ${next_hop} || exit 1
                 ;;
             Linux)
                 ip route delete ${route_prefix}/${route_prefix_len} \