From 6 January, local transport company De Lijn is scrapping some 3,000 stops and changing the names and routes of many lines. Buses will pass through residential neighbourhoods less frequently and take the main road more often to get to their destinations more quickly and run more frequently. Request stops are also being introduced. These will only be served when a local resident requests a ride.
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All change at De Lijn: one in six stops to disappear from early next year
Colin Clapson
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Transport company De Lijn wants to keep rolling out' basic accessibility'. The company started last July, but next year in January it will take another big step in its plan.
Buses will be concentrated more on lines with higher demand. That means 3,000 stops will disappear. That's 17 per cent of the total number. "We want to follow demand more closely and use resources efficiently, where they are needed," said Flemish mobility minister Lydia Peeters (liberal/Open VLD).
Basic accessibility?
The new public transport system works with layers. The backbone is the train network. That is followed by the core network: buses and trams connecting, for example, large residential centres, commercial centres and hospitals.
Buses between smaller cities and towns complete the network. In addition to this network, a flexi-network, which runs on demand only, is also being introduced.
Buses will run more frequently on lines where demand is high. These routes will also start earlier and possibly end later. However, the buses will no longer pass through residential neighbourhoods, only following the main roads.
Faster buses, but longer journey times?
Passenger organisation TrainTramBus is critical of De Lijn's plans. It fears travellers will spend longer on the road. "Buses will stay out of village centres because they lose too much time there. As a result, travellers do have to travel a longer distance to their stop. So the buses will complete their journey more quickly, but for passengers, the overall journey time will often be longer," says chairman Peter Meukens.
"It will be a step in the right direction for some travellers," Meukens adds. "But it remains to be seen how big the step backwards will be for others. In the first roll-out of basic accessibility, some stops that had been abolished were reintroduced. I expect the same will happen now."
From express bus to flexi-bus
What about the stops that are disappearing? Ann Schoubs, director general of De Lijn stresses that in densely populated regions, at least 95 per cent of residents will have a stop at a distance of no more than 750 metres.
Where buses do not stop on a regular basis - 25 per cent of the remaining stops – the stops become flexi or request stops. They will only be served when a local resident requests a ride. This can be requested via "flex transport", the successor to ring-a-bus.
Travellers will have to book a ride via the "Hoppincentrale": via the app, website or by phone. This can be done from 30 days to 30 minutes before the ride. About an hour before the ride, travellers will be informed of the exact time.
From 6 January the travelling public can find information about their journey on De Lijn's website and app. Bookings for a flexi-bus will be start on 6 December.