Flemish public transport operator De Lijn started the phased roll-out of its primary accessibility network, Hoppin. The new De Lijn network means changes are taking place at 16 000 bus stops, with some 180 to be abolished and others to be relocated, frequencies changed, or new line numbers appearing.

But not everyone applauds De Lijn’s new network, which is supposed to provide more efficient, sustainable, and flexible public transport in Flanders. The significant changes won’t come until January next year with Phase 2 of the roll-out of the Hoppin plan, when it will also include share systems, transport on demand, or new flex transport (the new name for bell bus).

The cabinet of Flemish Minister for Mobility and Public Works Lydia Peeters (Open Vld) emphasizes that there will be information campaigns in the coming months and an evaluation of the adjustments, with corrections if necessary.

Hoppin points

The Hoppin, or thus the new name for essential accessibility, with Hoppin points, a hub where different means of transport come together, is a new public transport system that works with layers where the current offer should be better tailored to the needs of travelers toward a more demand-driven public transport.

The backbone is the train network. The core network follows that: buses and trams connecting major residential areas, commercial centers, hospitals,… with each other.

Buses between smaller towns and municipalities form the supplementary network. Finally, there is customized transport (community buses, collective taxis, shared systems…) for certain sparsely populated places or less frequently used times of the day.

40% of travel routes will change

Travelers can check the De Lijn website or app to see what changes will affect their journeys. There is also an overview of the changes per municipality at www.delijn.be/gemeenten.

Later phases of the Hoppin roll-out will follow. By January 2025, the entire operation should be complete; about 40% of travel routes will be adjusted, meaning that two-thirds of the network will change – big or small.

Cut services to stay budget neutral

The question is whether De Lijn can smoothly implement this most significant change to the public transport network in Flanders for years. After all, it must attract new passengers or win back the old ones from before the corona epidemic without seeing an extra investment budget.

In May, De Lijn’s passenger numbers were still some 13% lower than in May 2019. De Lijn also made a loss of 11,7 million euros last year. The transport company receives around 1 billion euros annually from the Flemish government. Still, because its revenue through transport receipts only accounts for 160 million euros, it does have to cut services on less popular routes to remain budget neutral.

Lot of ‘captive users’

The company also struggles with declining satisfaction rates while urgently needing to green its fleet. In 2022, a quarter of De Lijn’s 2235 buses and 429 trams in Flanders did not run on time. In addition, nearly 275 000 rides were also canceled last year, over 90 000 more than four years ago. The number of rides that had to be canceled due to staffing problems quadrupled over four years.

But if buses cannot go out, you score low on reliability and will find it challenging to win new customers while leaving regular customers out in the cold. In fact, according to VUB researcher Evan Van Een, dixit the newspaper De Tijd, 90% of De Lijn’s travelers are captive users, a traveler who has no alternative to De Lijn’s bus or tram to get to their destination.

Now that the bus no longer serves some smaller village centers, there is a good chance that a percentage of regular De Lijn travelers will switch to electric bikes as a means of commuting, while fewer mobile people will no longer get to the bus stop.

Too early to judge

According to Peter Meukens, chairman of the travelers’ association TreinTramBus, it is too early to pass judgment on Hoppin’s roll-out. He does, however, denounce in De Standaard newspaper that there is, for example, no list of services that have been dropped.

At the same time, he also fears that travelers will have to walk longer to their buses and spend longer on the road. However, Meukens also says that you will also effectively get more buses per hour elsewhere on several lines, and journey times will decrease.

However, the organization denounces the new situation in Bruges, where there are fewer lines through the center and smaller buses, for example.