New 'Brupass XL' ticket to cover all travel in Brussels and suburbs

Belgium's four main public transport operators will launch a joint ticket for Brussels next month, allowing travel on all their services in the capital and - for an extra fee - the 19 municipalities immediately surrounding the region.

Two new ticket types will be sold by Stib, rail operator SNCB, Flanders' De Lijn and Wallonia's TEC from 1 February: Brupass (within the capital region) and Brupass XL (including the closest suburbs).

Brupass will replace the Stib's Jump ticket, which already allows connections with other public transport services within Brussels. Like Jump, it will come with single-ticket, 10-journey and 24-hour options.

Brupass will also be available as a monthly or annual season ticket, replacing the current MTB subscription - as now, allowing travel on all four operators within Brussels without having to buy multiple passes.

But the big change is the introduction of Brupass XL, which will cover not just the Brussels-Capital region, but each of the 19 Flemish Brabant municipalities that have a border with Brussels.

Brupass XL will cover the suburbs within an 11.5km radius of the Grand Place, making it possible to use a mix of Stib services, SNCB trains and De Lijn or TEC buses from Grimbergen to Rhode-Sainte-Genèse, for example, or from Dilbeek to Tervuren, via Brussels.

Some 35 SNCB suburban rail stations will fall within the new Brupass XL zone, including Zaventem village but not Zaventem airport, to which special fares will still apply on trains and on the Stib airport bus.

Brupass XL will cost €3 for a single journey, €20 for 10 rides, €74 for a monthly pass and €775 for a year. De Lijn is the only operator that will not sell individual or 10-ride tickets - only the longer season tickets.

For occasional users, the Brupass ticket within the Brussels region will be slightly more expensive than the Jump tickets it replaces: €2.40 for a single trip and €15 for 10 journeys. However, the monthly and annual Brupass season tickets remain the same price as the current MTB pass at €55.50 and €583 respectively.

All of the new tickets can all be downloaded on a Mobib card, with more mobile ticketing options promised for 2022.