Travellers on the Brussels public transport system will soon not need a metro ticket to ride, following the launch of contactless payment in the capital to serve more casual riders.
The system - which has been undergoing tests by operator STIB for months - will take advantage of new terminals which have appeared in stations and vehicles over the past months. As of 1 July, travellers will be able to pay for their tickets directly with their bank card (debit or credit), their smartphone or smartwatch, equipped with the contactless payment function, by simply holding it against the validation device.
By cutting out the step of buying a ticket at the machines to scan at the entrance gates, STIB wants to make the step for people to start using public transport a lot smaller. "This new method of payment is easy and fast and has been developed for occasional travellers and tourists," STIB commented in a statement.
“The bank card will become the ticket,” said Françoise Ledune, a STIB spokesperson to RTBF.
“If you change buses, trams or metros on your journey, you will have to validate each time in front of these new readers with the same bank card. The same goes for passing through the gates to get out of the metro, for example,” she added.
If the traveller does not exceed the travel time of 60 minutes, the price of one basic ticket will be debited from their bank account.
Jules Johnston
The Brussels Times
