STIB checks less tickets due to shortage of staff

STIB checks less tickets due to shortage of staff
The number of ticket inspectors has been at 110 for the past six years. Credit: Belga

The Brussels public transport company STIB has not hired any new staff to carry out ticket checks since 2014.

The number of ticket inspectors has been at 110 for the past six years, and as many of them went on sick leave between 2017 and 2018, the number of checks have dropped noticeably, from 1.4 million to 1.1 million in 2018. However, the figures have little to do with increasing civil obedience, but with a shortage of staff at STIB.

The number of official fines also fell by more than 20,000 over the same period, making the amount of money that STIB collected decrease from just over €5 million in 2017 to €4.27 in 2018, according to a parliamentary question for Brussels Minister for Mobility Elke van den Brandt.

"We carry out checks out of fairness, not for profit," said An Van Hamme, spokesperson for STIB, reports Bruzz.

"In the period 2017-2018, we had to deal with a lot of absent inspectors. When someone left, they were replaced, of course. The minimum number of passengers checked, 1%, was also always met as well," she said.

"However, in 2019, we already had 434,000,000 journeys, and now we have to meet the increasing number of travellers with an increase in the number of inspectors. We will hire twelve new ones in the coming period," she added.

Maïthé Chini

The Brussels Times


Copyright © 2024 The Brussels Times. All Rights Reserved.