At the Belgian public railway company NMBS/SNCB, only 6,5% of tickets are still purchased at ticket offices, compared to 50% a decade ago. This is logical, considering that there are only 91 stations with ticket offices left, which are often only open in the mornings.
The Mobility Committee is now asking NMBS/SNCB to launch a pilot project with ‘TreinPunten’, or TrainPoints, so that passengers can purchase train tickets from local retailers, for example, when a physical ticket office is no longer available.
90% of ticket sales via digital channels
Of course, you don’t need to teach Gen Z how to buy a train ticket digitally, but for a group of people who don’t have the digital skills, it can sometimes be a problem to buy a ticket online or from a ticket machine.
The figures for online ticket sales at NMBS/SNCB speak for themselves: sales via digital channels and ticket machines have now surpassed 90%. It is therefore not surprising that more ticket offices are closing because they are not profitable.
To help digital natives, Member of Parliament Dorien Cuylaerts (N-VA) proposes setting up TrainPoints. Local retailers, such as newsagents or gas stations, or public partners, such as the post office or town hall, would offer tickets for sale. This model already exists at the Flemish public transport company De Lijn.
“Old” resolution
The point is: in 2017, parliament already approved a similar resolution, but it remained a dead letter. Initiator Cuylaerts now hopes that the railway company will act on the new resolution.
The text received the support of the majority and the opposition party Ecolo-Groen, although a series of amendments has watered down the resolution. For example, there is a discussion of an investigation by the NMBS into potential sales points and a pilot project. This immediately raises the question of whether everyone in the majority is enthusiastic about the TrainPoints.
Approval by the plenary Chamber is required
The resolution still needs to be approved by the plenary Chamber, although at first glance it appears that the resources required will be greater than the benefits that the NMBS/SNCB could derive from it.
In addition, you can always buy a ticket on the train itself. However, there is a €9 supplement on top of the regular ticket price (you can only pay contactless electronically), unless the station you are departing from has no open ticket office or working ticket machine, or you are boarding at a station with no ticket sales facilities. When boarding, it is, of course, best to report this to the train conductor.
