Brussels public transport company STIB will start operating a new bus line, which will connect Neder-Over-Heembeek in the north of Brussels to Schuman and the EU quarter from 2 March.
The new line is part of the next phase in STIB's Bus Plan for the gradual redeployment of two-thirds of the lines of the bus network, aiming to increase the capacity and attractiveness of public transport. Six new bus lines will be added, including line 56, connecting Buda in Neder-Over-Heembeek with the Schuman station in the European quarter, via Schaerbeek.
The line will serve bpost's postal sorting centre, which was inaccessible by public transport up until now, and will run through Neder-Over-Heembeek (via the Hôpital Militaire, Val Maria and the Avenue des Croix-de-Guerre) to Heembeek, where it will connect with bus line 47 and tram lines 3 and 7.
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"This new step in the commissioning of the Bus Plan shows that the reform of the bus network is responding to the evolution of mobility needs," said Brieuc de Meeûs, CEO of STIB, in a press release. "It was very important to have a north-south connection between Schaerbeek and Neder-over-Heembeek and, at the same time, a direct connection to the metro. And that's what STIB did with the new line 56," he added.
The implementation of the Bus Plan, which began in mid-2018, will continue until 2021. The next stage is scheduled for autumn 2020. Once the entire Plan is implemented, a total of two-thirds of the bus network as it existed at the beginning of 2018 will have been modified.
"Public transport is more than a service. It brings people together, it is a meeting place and provides the inhabitants of Brussels with basic mobility," said Elke Van den Brandt, Brussels Minister for Mobility. "Line 56 will be used to build a large bridge for the inhabitants of Schaerbeek and Neder-over-Heembeek," she added.
Maïthé Chini
The Brussels Times
