Consumer groups call for an end to NMBS ticket supplement

Consumer organisation Test-Aankoop and public transport users’ group TreinTramBus (TTB) have jointly called on the rail authority NMBS to scrap a recently introduced regulation imposing a €7 surcharge on anyone buying their ticket on the train rather than ahead of boarding.

Previously, a passenger could board without a ticket if the station had no tickets on sale or if there was no time to buy one. If passengers informed the ticket inspector upon boarding, they were sold tickets at face value.

In the last year, however, automated ticket machines have been installed in most stations, leading to the surcharge. TTB has always protested the charge and spoke out again this week because of a widespread breakdown in the operation of the machines. The problem meant many passengers were unable to buy tickets before boarding.

“Passengers who in good faith wanted to buy a ticket are the victims of this defect, responsibility for which lies entirely with the NMBS,” TTB said in a statement. The passengers concerned will be able to claim back the supplement they paid, but only via a complex procedure, the organisation said. It called for a return to the previous system, where ticket inspectors used their own judgment to determine if passengers were trying to ride without paying.

“The vast majority of the ticket machines in stations are working,” said NMBS spokesperson Frieke Neyrinck. “The surcharge is not applied if the machine is out of order for more than one day, as ticket inspectors are informed at the start of their shift.”

A new generation of ticket machines for inspectors, she said, would allow quicker reactions. “With the new machines, updates will come faster, so that inspectors can be informed immediately of technical defects,” Neyrinck said. “The new machines will start being introduced in September, and all staff should be equipped by the end of 2015.”

Photo courtesy sintpietersleeuw.eu