From Saturday, Flemish public transport company De Lijn’s new basic accessibility network will be operational. But even before the new timetable – “the biggest transition ever” at De Lijn – goes into effect, criticism is louder and louder. More stops would be scrapped than planned, and the new Hoppin bus network would create greater transport poverty.

De Lijn refutes the criticism of the new transport plans. However, it does ask the next Flemish government for an extra 300 million euros a year to accelerate the modal shift, enable the greening of the fleet, and expand the supply.

Not 3 200 but 3 800 stops disappear

On Saturday, De Lijn takes the second and most important step in the rollout of the so-called basic accessibility. This involves concentrating buses and trams on lines with greater demand between residential centers and other key hubs.

The downside is that travelers who want to commute to suburbs or more remote areas will have to rely on flexible transport with on-call buses, whether or not combined with shared cars, bikes, mopeds, and e-scooters.

Earlier, De Lijn had revealed that this roll-out would include the disappearance of 3 200 stops. However, according to the newspaper De Tijd’s calculations, 3 800 stops would disappear across Flanders, meaning that dozens of Flemish municipalities would have to make do with a third to more than half fewer bus stops from this weekend.

Quick adjustment

De Lijn contradicts that 600 more stops are disappearing. The stops that disappear are in neighborhoods where no more regular line comes through but stops that are close to another one or where very few people get on will also disappear.

Director-General Ann Schoubs points out that De Lijn’s vehicles will just drive more kilometers and promises to evaluate the new network quickly and adjust if necessary.

For example, additional stops can be added if necessary, or the route of certain buses can be adjusted. How quickly adjustments can be made will depend on the operation that needs to be done. “Placing an extra flex pole is quick, but deploying an extra route will take longer,” says Schoubs.

Lot of criticism and manifestation

Yet criticism is raining down on De Lijn’s new transport plans. For instance, the newspaper De Morgen writes that the Hoppin app, which means you can switch more easily between different transport options, is not yet on point.

It is currently not possible to use it to book taxi rides, shared cars, or e-scooters, for example, and the times on the app are also said not to be trustworthy, making it difficult to meet certain connections.

Still, according to the newspaper, there is also a problem with the rollout of Hoppin points, special transport hubs with parking spaces for cars and bikes, or where there is a range of multiple transport options. More than 2 100 places were designated as Hoppinpoint, but only 261 have been realized for now.

A major demonstration by the United Civic and Mobility Platforms (VSOV) in all provincial capitals against the new timetable is already planned for Saturday. They fear that Hoppin will create greater transport poverty and that the service is not sufficiently coordinated for people with disabilities or of a certain age.

Flexi-jobbers

De Lijn, meanwhile, is primarily looking toward the different governments to eliminate certain bottlenecks. For instance, De Lijn would like to use flexi-jobbers at peak times under certain conditions. That is why it is asking the next federal government to extend the status of flexi-jobs to urban and regional transport.

The main intention would be to deploy those drivers during peak hours, morning and evening. Today, De Lijn’s operators can already deploy flexi-jobbers. Still, the company would, therefore, like to see this expanded so that it can “fight with the same weapons in the labor market that is becoming increasingly tight”.

Review of pupil transport system

De Lijn is also asking the next Flemish government to review the pupil transport system. This is bumping up against its limits. De Lijn organizes collective bus transport for pupils in special education. Because the aim is to ensure that pupils are picked up at home and do not spend more than 90 minutes on the road, organizing this transport is a very complex puzzle. De Lijn uses not only buses but also minibusses and taxis.

But as the number of pupils who can use it grows, the system is increasingly bumping against its limits. Moreover, there is only one school per province for some types of education. This means that distances are sometimes long. In addition, it is difficult to find drivers and means of transport.

The transport company also wonders whether this service is still affordable in the long run. The Flemish government raised the budget for pupil transport from 78 million euros to 136 million euros, but De Lijn says the concept needs to be reconsidered because the price per ride has also risen.

“In a nutshell, pupil transport costs an average of 3 100 euros per pupil,” says Schoubs. De Lijn, therefore, calls for the future ministers of Welfare, Education, and Mobility to bet on “new, creative concepts”. “Investing even more money will not provide a solution in the future.”

€300 million per year extra

Yet in its new memorandum, ‘Time for acceleration,’ for 2024-2029, presented on Wednesday, De Lijn says it needs more resources to accelerate the modal shift. It is asking the next Flemish government for an extra 300 million euros a year, on top of the basic annual allocation of about 1,1 billion euros.

An extra 100 million euros is needed, on top of the 270 million euros De Lijn gets today, for maintaining infrastructure and vehicles and another 100 million euros for greening the fleet. An additional 100 million euros in operating funds are also needed annually to improve the supply quality and grow public transport.

“We are at a pivotal point. Global warming is making itself increasingly felt, and mobility remains a major challenge with a major impact,” states Johan Sauwens, chairman of De Lijn’s board of directors. “Mobility and public transport must, therefore, be high on the political agenda.”

De Lijn has complained for years about the lack of necessary investment funds. In October, a similar complaint aroused the wrath of Flemish Mobility Minister Lydia Peeters (Open Vld). The minister believes the transition should be budget-neutral.