The upcoming Brupass XL announced by Brussels Mobility Minister Elke Van den Brandt will result in an increase in fares, Brussels’s francophone liberal party said on Friday.
The new fare model - in which public transport companies TEC, De Lijn and NMBS are involved - is, in principle, an excellent idea, but it comes 21 years late and shows “a serious lack of ambition,” the liberals said.
The Brupass principle was requested in 2000 as a pilot project. The objective was the regional express network (RER) zone. "But this also comes with a fare increase cleverly hidden under the smokescreen of the announcement of this Brupass XL,” said Brussels deputy David Weytsman.
“According to our calculations, if the Brupass will sell well at the MTB price for the subscription, there will be a 14% increase in the unit ticket (from €2.10 to €2.4) and 7% if sold in groups of 10 (from €14 to €15),” he stressed.
In addition, the former Jump/MTB zone was much larger than the normal Brupass. Some people who used their Jump card will therefore have to take a Brupass XL card. This also includes people who had a Jump pass but who will have to pay almost €200 more (from €583 to €775) because their destination is no longer included in the Brupass, Weytsman added.
According to the MR, this also means that some users will have to switch to Brupass XL while they were using a Jump ticket and will pay their 10 tickets at €20 compared to €14 currently, which represents a 43% increase.
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"While the government is putting pressure on motorists to give up their cars, it is increasing public transport fares, which is totally contradictory," said Anne-Charlotte d'Ursel, who chairs the regional parliament's mobility committee.
"It is not by raising prices that the government is going to encourage the people of Brussels to use them, on the contrary," she said.
Many STIB users who were using a Jump ticket to a terminus will need a more expensive Brupass XL as of next Monday, especially those who use: the 44 to the Quatres-Bras in Tervuren; the 76 from Crainhem to Oppem; the 39 from Stockel to Ban-Eik; the 77 from Crainhem to Hippodrome; the 47 and 58 to Vilvoorde station; the 50 to Lot station.
According to the MR, if you travel in the Brupass zone and the Brupass XL, you will need two MoBIB cards, one per zone, because the validator will always take the Brupass XL first at the rate of 2 euros (per 10) even when 1.50 euro would be enough.
Finally, the MR proposed that a Brupass XL option be added for school subscriptions as well as subscriptions for senior citizens, which is not the case at present.
The Brussels Times
