July 12, 2023
The discussions within the consultation platform on Zaventem airport did not lead to a consensus. This is according to the final report of the platform, which included representation from residents, municipalities, Brussels Airport, trade unions, and governments. Meanwhile, the bill the Belgian government must pay victims of noise pollution for overflying aircraft is running into […]
July 12, 2023
Ministers of the federal and Flemish governments have launched the ‘Stop Aggression’ action plan to tackle the problem of aggression on public transport in Belgium. The 10-point list includes a bus ban for troublemakers, while the demand for controller body cams will be examined. Public railway company NMBS/SNCB received 1 900 reports of aggression against […]
July 11, 2023
A 27-kilometer stretch of bicycle highway between Herentals and Balen is ready for use in the province of Antwerp. The stretch forms part of bicycle highway F105 Herentals-Leopoldsburg to Limburg. The province of Antwerp invested more than 30 million euros in it. The section between Herentals and Balen includes two new bicycle tunnels and nine […]
July 10, 2023
Brussels Mobility regularly checks Brussels goods and passenger transport to increase the safety of all road users. The overview of checks carried out over the past three months shows that 20% were in violation. In the past three months, Brussels Mobility carried out 12 control actions in cooperation with various police zones. A total of […]
July 10, 2023
The international shipping industry is going to reduce emissions from cargo ships. An agreement to this effect was reached between 175 countries at the International Maritime Organization headquarters in London last Friday. The sector, which accounts for almost 3% of global CO2 emissions, aims to cut polluting emissions by at least 20% by 2030 to […]
July 07, 2023
French railway company SNCF plans to earmark 1 000 hectares of solar panels by 2030 to cover 15 to 20% of its own electricity needs. The plans would make the railway company one of France’s largest green power producers. The SNCF is making this switch to secure supplies and control costs (between 2022 and 2023, […]
July 07, 2023
Belgium’s ambition to lead in developing a hydrogen grid was proved once again last Thursday: the plenary of the House of Representatives approved the first hydrogen law to regulate the transport of green hydrogen via pipelines. It may be the first such law worldwide, according to the cabinet of Energy Minister Tinne Van der Straeten […]
July 06, 2023
A survey by the Walloon Road Safety Agency (AWSR) shows that one Walloon driver in two drinks alcohol even if he has to drive afterward. One in four respondents recently drove potentially above the legal alcohol limit of 0,5 grams per liter of blood. To do something about the problem, the ASWR will be distributing […]
July 05, 2023
Vilvoorde’s city council is giving negative advice to the plans to redevelop the Brussels Ring Road. Mayor Hans Bonte (Vooruit) is unhappy about the heavy mobility and environmental impact of the works on the city and the region. Several ecological and mobility organizations also side against the plans of the Flemish government. At the end […]
July 04, 2023
Energy consumption in Belgium dropped last year to its lowest level since 1995. This is according to the most recent Federal Government Agency Economy data. In the aftermath of the Russian invasion of Ukraine, high energy prices meant that Belgians consumed less energy than in the corona year 2020. The share of renewable energy in […]
July 04, 2023
The Meiser Square in Schaerbeek, a major traffic junction in the neighborhood where public broadcasters VRT and RTBF offices are, will be redesigned completely. Brussels Mobility has applied for a permit. The large roundabout is to make way for two intersections and more green space. The Region hopes to start construction works by 2025. Specifically, […]
July 03, 2023
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 […]
June 30, 2023
The Belgian government has agreed with French energy giant Enigma on keeping the Doel 4 and Thihange 3 nuclear power plants open until 2035. Engie will also pay 15 billion euros for the future disposal and processing of all nuclear waste. But on the very day that the deal is knocked off, Elia, the transmission […]
June 29, 2023
A bicycle tunnel under the Brussels Ring Road has been officially opened in Overijse. The tunnel branches off at the end of Welriekendedreef and connects to the cycle network through the Sonian Forest and, thus, also toward Brussels. Until now, there was a pedestrian tunnel at that spot. Cyclists had to carry their bicycles by […]
June 29, 2023
The new entrance/exit complex of the Brussels Ring Road at Woluwe Avenue in Machelen has been officially opened by the Agency for Roads and Traffic. This completes the second of four phases of the major redevelopment of Woluwe Avenue, part of a 64 million euros investment by the Flemish government with which it intends to […]
June 28, 2023
The Eurostar Group, the merger of high-speed train operators Thalys and Eurostar, transported 14,8 million passengers last year and posted a turnover of over 1,53 billion euros, two and a half times more than a year earlier. As a result, profit before Ebita reached a record level of 332 million euros. By mid-October, a new app, […]
June 28, 2023
The Flemish administration has issued a permit for a link road between the Brussels Ring Road and Parking C at Heysel, according to the business newspaper L’Echo. The link road is considered essential for NEO, the Heysel redevelopment project. However, according to the Flemish Environment Department, the link road has a purely logistical function and […]
June 27, 2023
Due to maintenance, nine Brussels tunnels will temporarily be closed during the summer holidays. To limit traffic disruption, work in four of the nine tunnels will be carried out only at night, reports Brussels Mobility. And in the country’s south, some major highway projects will also be carried out, which could immediately impact the traffic […]
June 26, 2023
The Walloon government will allocate another 79 million euros to finalize works on the new Liège tramway. These have been seriously delayed, much to the annoyance of traders and residents. The amount comes on top of the 450 million euros initially planned. The modern 11,5 km tram line will connect Standard’s stadium to the Coronmeuse […]
June 26, 2023
The Antwerp city council doubts the further tightening of the low-emission zone (LEZ) from 2028 onward. So write the Gazet van Antwerpen and Het Laatste Nieuws. A study on the impact of existing and future air quality measures should provide the answer. In Antwerp, diesel cars will normally no longer be allowed from 2031. From […]
June 23, 2023
According to three car-sharing platforms operating in Brussels, the number of attempted thefts by minors of their cars has reached alarming levels. La Capitale newspaper reports this. According to them, Miles Mobility, Poppy, and GreenMobility have sent a joint letter to Brussels authorities denouncing the problem. According to the three suppliers, their vehicles in the […]
June 23, 2023
The Namur cable car, back in operation since 20021, has been little used as a soft mobility solution. As a tourist attraction, the cable car over the Sambre toward the 650-meter-high Citadel meets expectations, but as a city transport offer, the figures are disappointing. From 1 September, the city will consequently implement new timetables and […]
June 22, 2023
More than 20 European consumer organizations have filed a complaint to stop what they call misleading greenwashing claims by a series of airlines. The complaint is filed with the European Commission and the Consumer Protection Cooperation Network (CPC). It is directed against 17 airlines, including those in the Lufthansa Group (among which Brussels Airlines), Air […]
June 22, 2023
Brussels Mobility has launched a campaign to get the Brussels expat community on bikes. Ambassadors from Germany, the Netherlands, Denmark, Botswana, New Zealand, Bosnia, and Slovenia in Belgium are “not influencers, but real ambassadors” and are pulling the campaign. The Brussels Capital Region has the largest expat community in Europe, with 220 000 people making […]
June 21, 2023
Brussels public transport company MIVB/STIB has won two awards at the prestigious ‘Red Dot Design Award’. The transport company won awards for designing its new TNG tram and M7 metro inspired by the curves of Art Nouveau, an art movement inextricably linked to Brussels. The New Generation Tram (TNG) and the M7 metro, whose design […]
June 21, 2023
From next year, French people will be allowed to get their driving license and drive alone from the age of 17. French Prime Minister Elisabeth Borne has reported this. Several traffic associations have already spoken out against a reduction because of the risk of accidents. Driving a car as a 17-year-old in France is now […]
June 20, 2023
Indian low-cost airline IndiGo has ordered 500 Airbus A320 aircraft. By volume, this is the largest contract ever concluded in civil aviation. The contract represents a theoretical list price of 55 billion dollars. The aircraft are to be delivered between 2030 and 2035. And Walloon aviation company Sonaca also sings the “largest contract in its […]
June 19, 2023
Municipal, provincial, and regional officials in Belgium will soon be allowed to fine motorists alongside the police if they overtake a cyclist in a bicycle zone. The council of ministers has decided this. A car driver who overtakes cyclists there risks a municipal administrative sanction, known as a GAS fine for short, of 58 euros. […]
June 16, 2023
The Brussels government is taking three new social measures to help Brussels residents adopt different travel habits. This was announced by Environment and Health Minster Alain Maron (Ecolo). These include an increase in the Brussels-Air premium for low-income families, new exemptions from the LEZ (low-emission zone) for people with disabilities, and a new range of […]
June 16, 2023
Plum, Ghent’s best-known bike shop, has a new owner. The shop on Verlorenkost has been taken over by Lucien, D’Ieteren’s bicycle chain. Lucien also takes over the Remory-Van Heddeghem shop in Wetteren from the Remora family. This reports the business newspaper De Tijd. With the two acquisitions, Lucien now has 16 branches in Belgium, but […]
June 15, 2023
Estonian mobility company Bolt is to launch ‘Reckless Ride Score’, an evaluation system to address the unsafe driving habits of e-scooter drivers. It is the first micro-mobility provider to do so. Through this approach, Bolt hopes that safety standards for the highly stressed sector of shared e-scooters will continue to strengthen across the industry. The […]
June 15, 2023
Anyone traveling to France by car this summer will face new, permanent low-emission zones (LEZ) in nine major French cities. This is what the Belgian mobility organization VAB is warning for. Paris has had a LEZ in place for some time, but it, too, is being tightened up. The so-called ‘zones à faibles emissions,’ or […]
June 14, 2023
The driving license with points does not seem to be introduced in Belgium, for the time being. The French-speaking socialists (PS) and liberals (MR) are not enthusiastic and have made their own counterproposal, much to the dismay of Vooruit, the party of the Flemish socialists. “People are dying on the roads because PS and MR […]
June 14, 2023
Worldwide, there are 1,35 million fatal road accidents every year, meaning that around 3 700 people die every day in car accidents on the road. Male drivers cause most accidents, although the gender cap is not the same in every country, according to a study by Compare the Market Australia. The gender gap in terms […]
June 13, 2023
After Arriva last week, now Dutch public transport company Qbuzz has announced plans for high-speed trains between Amsterdam and Paris. For both companies, the trains would stop in Antwerp and Brussels en route. The start-up is targeted for January 2027. The application to the Dutch regulator Authority Consumer & Market (ACM) mentions seven trips in […]
June 13, 2023
Brussels Finance and Budget Minister Sven Gatz (Open Vld) has raised the possibility of a new tender for the construction of metro line 3 in negotiations with the two companies that submitted bids do not lead to a reduction of the bill of more than 3 billion euros. The bids are “way too high”, he […]
June 12, 2023
The Brussels public transport company MIVB/STIB aims to reduce its emissions by 40% by 2030. To provide an increasingly environmentally friendly service to passengers, it is focusing on converting to an electric fleet. But also by striving to follow a set of principles grouped under the concept of corporate social responsibility (CSR). Today, all MIVB/STIB […]
June 12, 2023
During the night from Saturday to Sunday, the new Hector Hennaud Avenue bridge on the Brussels Ring Road in Zaventem was successfully put in place. The colossus, which at 106 by 27 meters approaches the area of half a football pitch, weighs just under 2 000 tons. The smoothly run operation allowed the Ring Road […]
June 12, 2023
Some 200 people from ‘Non au plan Good Move’ protested the Brussels Good Move mobility plan in Anderlecht on Sunday. The local committees against the mobility plan from several Brussels municipalities are demanding a new regional mobility plan for Brussels. The committees recently succeeded in collecting the required 1 000 signatures with which to interpellate […]
June 09, 2023
Two electric ‘hydrant fuel dispensers’, which pump fuel from the underground piping system into the aircraft, will come into operation at Brussels Airport from next year. The new custom-made devices are part of the greening of the airport sector, says the operator. Ordered by Skytanking The vehicles were ordered by the company Skytanking, which provides […]
June 09, 2023
Works on the last unfinished premetro tunnel of the Antwerp premetro network and the four unfinished premetro stations, Drink, Morkhoven, Willibrordus, and Stuivenberg, could start in early 2025. The whole project should then be ready in the first quarter of 2027. Flemish Mobility Minister Lydia Peeters (Open Vld) has said so. The cost would hover […]
June 08, 2023
The second-hand motorbike market in Belgium is in dire straits, according to sector organization Traxio. Until May, almost 30% fewer motorbikes, that’s 9 446 units, were sold compared to last year. The reason for this drop, according to Traxio, is the second-hand inspection of motorbikes that has been mandatory since 1 January 2023. One of […]
June 08, 2023
Eneco, a Dutch energy supplier with its Belgian headquarter in Mechelen, will invest 90 million euros into a 50-megawatt battery power park in the Walloon town of Ville-sur-Haine. The battery park, which will be connected to the high-voltage grid as a backup, should be operational by the end of next year. The park, in the […]
June 07, 2023
Flemish public transport company De Lijn paid 5 900 euros in fines last year for violations in the Low-Emission Zones (LEZ) of Antwerp, Ghent, and Brussels. This is according to the figures Green MP Stijn Bex requested. Fines for unauthorized diesel buses are on a downward trend. In 2019, for example, the company still paid […]
June 07, 2023
According to several French-language newspapers, the Brussels Region will automate its metro network. These ‘driverless’ trains have been discussed for about a decade, but now the goals are becoming more concrete: the first route to run without a human driver will be line 5 Ceria-Erasmus in the summer of 2026. Eventually, all metros should run […]
June 06, 2023
The Fleming increasingly prefers to cycle and walk. This emerges from a study into the travel behavior of the Flemish population by the Department of Mobility. Although the car remains the most popular means of transport, the share of the car drops below 60% for the first time. It is the sixth time since 1994 […]
June 05, 2023
A European survey shows that 7% of Belgians, or around 420 000 drivers, have already had an accident attributable to alcohol behind the wheel. Last year, nearly 47 000 drivers, an average of 128 per day, were also fined for ‘alcohol behind the wheel’ in Belgium. The new BOB campaign ‘BOB protects lives’, therefore, calls […]
June 05, 2023
Seven European transport ministers want to make 2024 the year of cycling. They launched this call on World Cycling Day. The United Nations has declared the 3rd of June World Cycling Day in 2018 to draw attention to the benefits of bicycles. The seven mobility ministers are asking Europe to develop a genuine cycling policy. […]
June 02, 2023
The Brussels government is to give a 1,5 million euros grant to Brussels police zones to make road safety an absolute priority within policing. The additional grant should lead to more enforcement, among other things. The police zone Brussels-Capital-Elsene/Ixelles can count on just under 430 000 euro in subsidies. For the other five zones, it […]
June 02, 2023
Those who present their vehicles late because of long waiting times at technical inspection centers in Flanders will soon no longer be fined. This was announced by Flemish Minister for Mobility Lydia Peeters (Open VLD). This is a temporary measure. When the problems in the car inspection sector are over, there will be no more […]
June 01, 2023
The financing of the new metro line 3 in Brussels continues to raise questions. It is also an item that keeps popping up in the Belgian press as it was recently revealed that the cost is much higher than first estimated. Among other things, the Brussels government has now asked the federal government whether it […]
June 01, 2023
On the border of the Flemish Brabant town of Tervuren and Wezembeek-Oppem, one of the most important Hoppin Points along the Brussels Ring Road was officially opened on Wednesday. The Hoppin Point branches off from the terminus of Streetcar 44 and is close to Tervuren Park and the Africa Museum. At the new Hoppin Point […]
May 31, 2023
Around noon on Whit Monday, a record amount of electricity was generated by wind and sun, enough to cover just about all of Belgium’s electricity consumption for a while. This is according to preliminary figures from high-voltage manager Elia. This is the first time that solar and wind have been enough to cover just about […]
May 31, 2023
The impact of the corona crisis at the Brussels public transport company MIVB/STIB and the Flemish public transport company De Lijn seem to have turned the sharpest corner now. This is evident from recent figures. Nevertheless, De Lijn, in particular, has had a difficult year due to driver shortages and twice as many canceled trips. […]
May 30, 2023
The Comac C919, China’s first domestically manufactured aircraft, made its maiden commercial flight on Sunday. It should mark a turning point for the Chinese aviation industry, which has long wanted to compete with famous Western aircraft such as the Boeing 737 MAX and Airbus A320. The C from Comac forms an ABC for a reason […]
May 30, 2023
The new Bruxell’Air bonus launched in March 2022 was awarded to 2 300 Brussels residents last year. This bonus allows Brussels residents who give up their cars to benefit from the offer of sustainable mobility services, such as public transport, cabs, bicycles, scooters, shared vehicles, etc. According to the Brussels Minister for Climate Transition, Alain […]
May 30, 2023
Belgians most often traveled on foot (95%) and by car (94%) in 2022, according to a survey by FPS Mobility questioning 4 600 Belgians aged between 18 and 79. The two most popular alternatives are public transport and cycling, with 65% and 56%, respectively. However, sustainable mobility is gaining ground, partly because of environmental and […]
May 26, 2023
The die is cast. After months of negotiations, German airline group Lufthansa will take a minority stake in Italian airline ITA Airways. The Germans are injecting 325 million euros into ITA in exchange for a 41% stake. Eventually, they may acquire the airline outright. Additional government funding In addition to the capital increase by Lufthansa, […]
May 26, 2023
The Brussels government will ask the federal government for a budget increase for the planned works on the Metro 3 project in the capital. This is because the costs of constructing a tunnel and stations are piling up much higher than initially projected. According to a report in the business newspaper L’Echo, Beliris, the federal […]
May 26, 2023
Train passengers with reduced mobility can now also request assistance to take the train more easily via the NMBS/SNCB website. To this end, the website adopts the functions and benefits of NMBS/SNCB Assist, the pay launched in January. Among other things, a personal login, an adapted journey planner, online follow-up of requests, or requesting several […]
