Search Q&A
trams, does anyone pay?
Am I in the minority in actually paying to use the trams here in Brussels, only when I observe people boarding the trams, very few swipe a card or ticket?? Is there a type of ticket/pass that doesn't need to be swiped or are folks just blatantly riding for free? I wonder if I'm the stupid one for paying...!
Most of them will have season tickets and although you're supposed to swipe them still, most people don't bother.
I have the usual monthly pass and so do my colleagues. We switch from the metro to the tram and when we get on the tram, we never swipe it.
In fact, once there was a controller person in the tram and when we got on and we didn't swipe, he came straight to us to check, and all he could say, ok, you're good,
Of course, if you get on the bus in certan stops, you will always see people getting on, going two stops or three, and I highly doubt they have a monthly pass, and You'll never ever see an inspector in that area. :D
IIRC, the controles consistently pick up about 2% of fraudulent travellers.
There's quite a fine even if you have a valid Mobib but don;t swipe it.
It makes me mad, the number of people who don't pay. I commute on De Lijn as well as STIB and the driver won't let you by unless you've paid a fare or shown a card, yet I've had more controls on De Lijn than on STIB - and the STIB controls have nearly all been on the Metro where it's much harder to cheat.
I see "fare dodgers" every day,,sometimes three pass through the new electrical gates at the same time. Far too easy!
I've been controlled a few times over the years and on some of those occasions the controller has said "OK" even though I have forgotten to stamp my ticket (I don't use a MOBIB).
However, that's only because (I assume) I have switched from the metro (where I HAVE stamped my ticket) less than one hour previously.
I think technically you're supposed to stamp your ticket on each change of transport - at which point the screen shows "transit" - but that so long as you have stamped at the start of your journey (within the last hour), the controllers will not fine you. Perhaps this is why many people are not stamping on the tram?
Yes, you're supposed to stamp the ticket on each change, but many times, specially if you travel at peak hours, getting to one of the machines on the tram is difficult. That's why I think that if you have stamped it within the hour and you're just "transiting" and you get controlled, you don't get a fine. Like I said, it happened to us and the controller didn't even give us a lecture.
Now, with my luck, I pay every month for the pass and I bet the moment I forget my ticket and I get on a tram/bus, I'll be the one controlled and then I'll probably pay a fine.
What I love the most is how 10-15 agents decide to stay in one stop instead of spreading out. While 2 or 3 do the checking, the rest just stand around doing nothing. And again, they never ever seem to be in the areas where people don't validate their tickets at all. Places like St. Josse, stops close to Porte de Namur, etc. And yea, how does deLijn manage to implement a system where everybody goes through the front of the bus and they have to show their ticket?
