ABVV Senioren staged a protest on Saturday at the Flemish Tram and Bus Museum in Berchem, using the final farewell to Antwerp’s PCC trams to highlight what it called underinvestment in public transport and poor accessibility.
The seniors’ wing of the socialist trade union said it had chosen the long-awaited retirement of the 66-year-old high-floor trams to draw attention to ongoing barriers in the network.
According to the organisation, 65% of tram and bus stops in Antwerp are still not accessible to wheelchair users, while 87% are not accessible to blind passengers. It also said that more than a quarter of Antwerp’s trams remain inaccessible to wheelchair users.
Related News
- North–South: The line that remade Brussels
- New night train connects Brussels and Milan from now
- Why Virgin's 2031 London-Brussels service could struggle to succeed
ABVV Senioren said this sits in sharp contrast to the disappearance of the PCC trams from Antwerp’s streets. With only low-floor trams now operating in the city, it argued that wheelchair accessibility on the tram fleet should, in theory, no longer be an issue.
The group also linked its protest to current Flemish policy on upgrading stops. Flemish Mobility Minister Annick De Ridder of N-VA wants half of all stops to be accessible by 2030, but ABVV Senioren said the funding set aside for that target is insufficient.
The organisation is calling for all stops to be made accessible to everyone. It also opposes any further cuts, as well as the removal of stops and routes.
The protest took place at the tram museum in the Groenenhoek area of Berchem. The site was the starting point and final stop on Saturday’s official farewell day for the PCC trams.
The old trams were scheduled to run one last time through Antwerp between 10am and 6pm on a hop-on, hop-off circuit. Public transport operator De Lijn is also transferring one PCC tram to the museum, where it will be preserved as part of Antwerp’s transport heritage and will occasionally be used for tourist trips during events.
