May 28, 2022
German premium carmaker Mercedes-Benz has announced that it will slowly fade out the manual gearbox from its entire range, mainly due to the increasing electrification of powertrains. The transition to fully automatic transmissions should begin next year. Stuttgart isn’t alone, as many carmakers have already switched to auto boxes and reserved manual transmissions for entry-level […]
May 27, 2022
The French government is working on a project to provide the poorest inhabitants with an electric car at a cost of 100 euros per month. The proposal, first proposed by the Socialist candidate and mayor of Paris Anne Hidalgo and promised by newly elected president Emmanuel Macron during his first campaign speech on 17 March, […]
May 25, 2022
On Tuesday, the CEO of the French railway operator SNCF, Jean-Pierre Farandou, announced that a new high-speed TGV line linking Paris to Berlin was in the making. It should be operational by December 2023, and connecting the two capital cities is around seven hours. “A few years ago, we thought it was a bit long, […]
May 25, 2022
The Flemish government must pay environmental organization Greenpeace a penalty of 850 000 euros. The Air Policy Plan drawn up after a judgment by the Brussels Court of First Instance does not meet the requirements of that judgment, Greenpeace reports. “Flanders still does not have a sufficiently ambitious air action plan,” the organization denounces. No […]
May 25, 2022
Four years and five months late and three billion pounds over budget, London’s new Elizabeth Line finally opened yesterday. The Crossrail project is a 118 km railway line, which links Essex in the east to Reading in the west, tunneling underground through Central London. By 2026, Transport for London (TfL) estimates that the Elizabeth Line […]
May 24, 2022
Road safety institute Vias advocates the rapid introduction of a driving license based on points to which measures and judicial sanctions are automatically linked up to a certain level. This is stated in a study commissioned by Federal Minister of Mobility Georges Gilkinet (Ecolo), and for which a comparison was made with the practices of […]
May 24, 2022
In an objective to renew the airport of Zaventem into a multimodal hub based on a more environmental-friendly strategy, her CEO Arnaud Feist wants to exchange short-haul flights with high-speed train connections. While pointing at how Brussels Airport was one of the first in Europe with an integrated train station, he also puts the ball […]
May 24, 2022
In the first quarter of 2022, three times more EVs were sold worldwide than last year. With two million battery-powered vehicles registered already this year, the International Energy Agency (IEA) sees a substantial increase in EV adoption, especially in China and the EU. Of all new car sales, EVs now represent 10%. According to the […]
May 24, 2022
The decision has been made on the almost 18-year-old plans for a tram connection between Hasselt and Maastricht: the Flemish government is shelving the plans for an express tram between the two Limburg capitals. Instead, there will be an electric tram bus with maximum free bedding. In the longer term, the aim is fully autonomous […]
May 23, 2022
In 2021, there were 41,1 million trucks, mostly foreign, on Belgium’s roads. Never before has this number been so high. This is evident from the report for its operating year drawn up by Viapass, the organisation that manages the kilometer charge for trucks in Belgium. Consequently, revenues for the kilometer charge are also peaking: 822 […]
May 23, 2022
Belgian Minister of Mobility Georges Gilkinet (Ecolo) wants the penalties for speeding to be more proportionate to the seriousness of the offence and the risk to other road users, especially the most vulnerable. It is no coincidence that the Minister is launching this trial balloon now. Accident statistics are not good in Belgium. The figures […]
May 20, 2022
Flemish Minister of Mobility Lydia Peeters (Open VLD) wants to have people who buy an electric bike guided to a training course by the salesperson. The Minister wants to do that to counter the rising accident figures. One in four of the victims of an injury accident in Flanders in the first three months of […]
May 20, 2022
The Brussels government has launched a project call to boost the rollout of charging stations for electric vehicles. All owners of private car parks in Brussels have a chance of receiving a subsidy on the condition that their charging stations run on green electricity, are public, and are accessible 24/7. This has been confirmed by […]
May 19, 2022
After more than six years, high-speed train operator Thalys is canceling its IZY low-cost offer. With the IZY trains, you could travel between Brussels and Paris for 10 euros, although it took an hour longer because it did not run on high-speed rail in France. On 10 July, IZY will run for the last time. […]
May 19, 2022
Mercedes is joining forces with Sila Nanotechnologies, who developed an innovative battery with a much higher density (+30 to 40%) than what we see today in lithium-ion EV batteries. The first of these would be for the future electric G-Class. Alternative to hydrogen Sila Nanotechnologies is a start-up from Silicon Valley in California that uses […]
May 19, 2022
On Wednesday, Paris mayor Anne Hidalgo announced new plans for the French capital city’s ring road. The ‘périph’, as Parisians call it, will feature an ‘Olympic way’ during the 2024 Olympic Games, reserved for athletes, officials, and emergency services. After the event, that traffic lane will be deleted, and the 10 hectares ‘freed’ will see […]
May 18, 2022
According to a report from InfluenceMap, a conglomerate of a UK-based non-profit and a US charity, the production of electric and hydrogen vehicles won’t be enough to meet the Paris Agreement’s climate objective of limiting temperature rise to 1,5°C. Zero-emission vehicles should represent 57,5% of sales and 20% of the whole fleet by 2030. However, […]
May 17, 2022
The Dutch start-up Squad Mobility presents the final version of its solar two-seater, which was first shown three years ago and is scheduled to go into production in 2023. The Squad (or Solar Quad) can be bought starting from € 6 250 net and can be reserved now via fully-refundable, non-binding pre-orders for the Netherlands, […]
May 16, 2022
The board of directors has validated the ambitious draft business plan and investment plan up to 2032 for the NMBS/SNCB on Friday. They agreed on a 10% increase in train capacity, which must bring about a 30% growth in passenger numbers by 2032. Minister of Mobility Georges Gilkinet says that he will ensure that the […]
May 13, 2022
Wednesday, a new president for the board was elected at the Autoworld museum in Brussels. Ex-Prime Minister Guy Verhofstadt, now still a member of the European Parliament, has accepted to succeed to another well-known Open-Vld politician, Herman De Croo, who has been heading the museum for 36 years. The entire Autoworld team is very grateful […]
May 12, 2022
Both the new and second-hand motorbike markets were hit like the car market. Last month, the number of new motorbike registrations fell by 20,3%, while the second-hand market did even worse with 24,2%. The figures come from the automotive federation Traxio. The declining new motorbike market is partly due to delayed deliveries of ordered motorbikes. […]
May 12, 2022
The Antwerp Saint Anne tunnel, the so-called ‘pedestrian tunnel’, has been closed for a while because it recently had a makeover. Graffiti was removed and walls and ceilings were painted with a special, water-based antibacterial paint to be moistureproof. The Agency for Roads and Traffic (Agentschap Wegen en Verkeer, AWV) finished the job n six […]
May 11, 2022
This summer, 32 municipalities of the Antwerp transport region and the Waasland will roll out a large shared e-bike platform. The project is intended to stimulate the modal shift. The coordinator is Lantis, manager of large construction projects like the Oosterweel connection in Antwerp. The Danish Donkey Republic will provide and maintain the bikes. “As […]
May 11, 2022
Climate change remains a ‘top of mind’ issue. Eight out of ten worry about climate change, and six out of ten Belgian citizens support the Belgian en European target to become climate neutral by 2050. However, only three out of ten feel that also families have to contribute. The figures come from the fifth national […]
May 11, 2022
Drivers who are caught using their smartphones while driving risk the immediate withdrawal of their driver’s license for eight days. That is what the public prosecutor of East Flanders announced. As a matter of fact, the prosecutor’s office confirmed to Belga News Agency that it already had revoked about a hundred driver’s licenses on Monday […]
May 10, 2022
On ‘Mobilize Day’, the Mobilize department has shown its ambitions in services and technology inside the Renault Group. Its target is 20% of the total turnover of the Group by 2030. At the same time, Renault’s RCI Bank and Services become Mobilize Financial Services. At the start of the day, Renault CEO Luca de Meo […]
May 09, 2022
This is already starting to become a trip down memory lane. The Swiss company Micro Mobility Systems was the first to clone the iconic BMW Isetta bubble car under the name of Microlino. Unfortunately, with some hostility, it was taken over by the German (sports car) manufacturer Artega, and they showed their version of the […]
May 09, 2022
Febetra, the federation of Belgian haulers and logistic service providers, has used Mother’s Day to launch a call for more female truck drivers. The freight transport sector urgently needs to fill in 5 000 vacancies in the coming years. In Belgium, hardly 1,66% of truck drivers are female. In 98% of the cases, a man […]
May 06, 2022
The new version of the Brussels’Air premium, which has been awarded to motorists who give up their car in the capital since the beginning of March, is a great success. So says the Brussels Minister responsible for Climate Transition Alain Maron (Ecolo). On Tuesday, Brussels Environment handed out the 700th premium, which in two months […]
May 06, 2022
Brussels Airlines has again posted a red figure of -62 million euros in the first three months of 2022. Although this is an 11% improvement compared to the previous year, and the first quarter is traditionally the lowest-performing period of the year in the aviation sector, the airline is still experiencing the consequences of the […]
May 06, 2022
Flemish Minister of Mobility, Lydia Peeters’ plans to reorganize the training system for candidate drivers has provoked severe criticism. Mostly criticized is the idea that young drivers have to go through a training period of five to six months before they can take their practical exam unless they cough up a lot of money (€1 […]
May 05, 2022
According to a new study by the Walloon Road Safety Agency (AWSR), published on the occasion of a new awareness-raising campaign being held throughout May, one in 20 drivers follow online meetings while driving. The proportion of this new phenomenon even rises to one in six for those in management positions. The inhabitants of Walloon […]
May 05, 2022
Starting this week, passengers can again take the Waterbus between Brussels and Vilvoorde through the canal. Weekly operations come first, from July the service is extended to the weekend. From 2 May to 31 October, the Vivaldi Waterbus will run every weekday between 9 a.m. and 6 p.m. and between 1 July and 15 August […]
May 05, 2022
In a television interview, Norwegian Minister of Transport Jon-Ivar Nygård has unveiled that the government is reconsidering the EV incentives that helped push electric car sales to almost 90%. Scrapping the benefits must get more people out of their cars. Free municipal parking. No tolls on ferries. Access to bus lanes. No annual road tax. […]
May 05, 2022
Flemish Minister of Mobility, Lydia Peeters (Open Vld), wants to reorganize the training of drivers to get their license. She pleads for a practice period of at least five months and a temporary driver’s license. She also wants to introduce a mandatory training session for coaches, often parents who’re training their son or daughter. They […]
May 05, 2022
The Flemish public transport company De Lijn invests 1,5 million euros in buying three tram simulators. So tram drivers no longer have to attend their practical training lessons alone in real trams and traffic situations. In the future, part of the training will be given virtually. De Lijn trains about 200 tram drivers annually. Some […]
May 04, 2022
D’Ieteren Group’s head office in Ixelles/Elsene will look different in the future. The Belgian importer and seller of brands such as Volkswagen and Audi is proposing a transformation project to prepare its headquarters for the future while maintaining its roots and presence in Brussels. Owned by the D’Ieteren family since 1906, the rue du Mail […]
May 04, 2022
Stellantis’ car-sharing division Free2move announced today it had signed an agreement to acquire car-sharing company Share Now, a joint venture formed by Mercedes-Benz Mobility Group and BMW Group in 2019. Share Now is a market leader and pioneer of free-floating car-sharing and is represented in 16 major European cities with around 10 000 vehicles, including […]
May 03, 2022
The Flemish Government wants to continue to focus on alternatives to road transport, with companies choosing the proper mode of transportation for each flow of goods. It is extending the Multimodal Flanders project by five years until 2027. The organization behind the project, the Flemish Logistics Innovation Center (VIL), reported this. Transport via rail or […]
May 03, 2022
Daimler Truck, Europe’s leading manufacturer of buses and coaches, plans to turn the page on diesel-powered city buses by 2030, aiming for a 100% electric offering that will rely, in part, on hydrogen. The German group, which has sold some 600 e-buses out of a total of 18 700 units in 2021, only wants rechargeable […]
May 03, 2022
The Flemish Foundation for Traffic Science (Vlaamse Stichting Verkeerskunde, VSV) launches a new campaign against cell phones at the wheel. VSV discovered that more than eight out of ten drivers regularly use their smartphones while driving. Driving with a hand-held cell phone more than doubles the risk of an accident. Dialing alone multiplies that risk […]
May 02, 2022
Eurostar and Thalys, the two high-speed train operators planning to merge, have created an umbrella holding called Eurostar Group. Jacques Damas, CEO of Eurostar, will become the top executive of the new holding. Eurostar and Thalys will remain fully-fledged railway companies, with headquarters in London and Brussels, respectively. The holding will have its headquarters in […]
April 29, 2022
The Brussels Government had definitively approved the Master Plan for the Delta-Herrmann-Debroux area. The main ambition of this urban project is to redevelop the E411 axis into an urban boulevard, put an end to highways in the heart of the region, and reconnect neighborhoods that, although neighboring, are very little connected. The Brussels Government had […]
April 29, 2022
The Brussels Government is raising its ambitions to reduce greenhouse gas from 40 to 47% by 2030 compared to 2005. To this end, subsidies for gas-fired condensing boilers will be abolished in 2023, and the move away from fossil fuels will be accelerated without waiting for the next legislature. This emerges from the policy guidelines […]
April 29, 2022
The metro station Albert in Forrest will be linked directly to the university districts (ULB-VUB) of Ixelles. The Brussels Region and the Brussels transport company MIVB/STIB have agreed on this. The Brussels Government, on the other hand, has definitively approved the draft ordinance on taxi services of Minister-President Rudi Vervoort (PS). The text now goes […]
April 29, 2022
The new Port of Antwerp-Bruges, a fusion of the harbors of Antwerp and Zeebrugge, wants to become “the green entry to Europe”. Its ambitions are not to be sneezed at: Port of Antwerp-Bruges wants to become Europe’s largest international export harbor, and at the same time reconcile economy and climate. Port of Antwerp-Bruges is determined […]
April 29, 2022
The Alcomotive group, the importer of Hyundai, Suzuki, MG, SsangYong, and Maxus, among other activities, changes into Astara Western Europe. The aim for the future is simple: transforming from a traditional car importer into a complete, versatile provider of mobile solutions. Olivier Sermeus, COO of Astara Western Europe: “We will create a complete ecosystem, and […]
April 28, 2022
Rental cars will remain very expensive this summer. Prices have increased spectacularly – some almost tripled – because there is more demand than supply. “A rental car eats away the largest part of your holiday budget,” some say. The best advice rental companies can give is to book in advance and on time. In 2020, […]
April 28, 2022
From 1 May, parking in the center of Brussels will become more expensive, to discourage long-term parking and encourage drivers to use public car parks. In addition, a second resident card will become more expensive. The local council of Brussels approved these new parking regulations in December last year, but they will come into effect […]
April 27, 2022
In 84% of e-scooter accidents, the user is the only one involved, and the condition of the road, the light, and driving under the influence are often the cause. One-third of the victims were drunk. This is shown by a study on e-scooter accidents carried out for a year among patients admitted to the emergency […]
April 27, 2022
Commuting has to become more sustainable. That is why Flemish Minister of Mobility, Lydia Peeters (Open Vld), reserves 2,1 million euros to support companies and organizations that are making commuting more sustainable. The money is intended to support projects and initiatives that are ‘greening’ transport between people’s workplaces and public transport because all too often, […]
April 27, 2022
Corona has turned the world upside down. Many people work from home and will probably keep doing so in the future. Others are still commuting but not necessarily daily. Our moving behavior has become more flexible. Public transport company De Lijn wants to meet the changing expectations of its customers. That is why it temporarily […]
April 27, 2022
The number of people traveling, especially by train, will reach a ceiling in Belgium in the coming years due to the widespread use of teleworking and the aging of the population. Specifically for commuter traffic, the train would even lose 20% of passenger kilometers by 2040. But on the other hand, the Belgian Federal Planning […]
April 26, 2022
Four out of ten Flemish citizens – 42%, to be specific – get annoyed about the driving behavior of their partner. One-third of them (32%) even say they sometimes quarrel about it. Women are more easily irritated (46%) about the driving behavior of their partner than men; men don’t mind that much (37%). The figures […]
April 26, 2022
Last year, the Brussels Region paid out 771 547 euros in compensation for the poor state of the roads. Two hundred ten complaints were handled, 107 following incidents on the Ring Road. Also, five motorcyclists, 13 pedestrians, 19 cyclists, and three scooter users suffered damage due to the bad condition of the road. Although it […]
April 25, 2022
In 2021, the police fined a record number of drivers for speeding, data VTM News could lay hands on shows. During the first six months of the year, 12 810 infringements per day were registered. Enough to break the record figures from 2020. To be specific, 4 060 468 fines were issued in 2020. Corona […]
April 25, 2022
Since the start of the kilometer charge for trucks in 2016, nearly 64 million euros in Flemish fines have been issued. However, almost 21 million euros of that budget has yet to be received. The information came to light upon request from Flemish parliamentary group chairman Peter Van Rompuy (CD&V), who interjected Flemish Finance Minister […]
April 22, 2022
Flemish Minister of Mobility, Lydia Peeters (Open Vld), has announced the arrival of 43 new average speed checks along the regional roads in Flanders. Local authorities submitted a request for them. “They are best qualified to judge local traffic situations,” explains Minister Peeters. Flanders already has 251 average speeds checks, bringing the total number to […]
April 22, 2022
Flemish transport company De Lijn will order 99 electric buses worth 66,5 million euros next year. The delivery of the new buses should allow the old diesel buses, Euro 3 and 4, to be put aside by 2025. The Brussels transport company MIVB/STIB must also renew its fleet of buses that run on thermal engines: […]
April 21, 2022
The Belgian Chamber Committee for Mobility has given the green light for a bill regulating the use of e-scooters in traffic. The new law will provide an age limit of 16, and in the future, e-scooters will be banned from footways. The bill still needs to be approved by the plenary chamber. The e-scooters have […]
