After one year of tram service in Liège, operator LETEC. can report positive figures. This is evident from the official final balance sheet, which La Dernière Heure, RTBF, and others reviewed. A total of 12 million riders used the tram, or about 1 million per month. The satisfaction rate stood at 77% in the fall of 2025.
However, there is one sticking point: fare evasion. With a fare evasion rate of 17%, which LETEC. itself considers too high – that percentage is significantly higher than in Flanders, where De Lijn reports an average of around 4%.
Peaks of 4,000 to 5,000 passengers per hour
In the late 1960s, the tram disappeared from Liège’s cityscape, replaced by buses. But last April, the tram made a successful comeback with a new line.
A year later, operatroLETEC. – no longer TEC but LETEC., as the Walloon counterpart of De Lijn underwent a rebranding last year – can report a largely positive outcome.
Since its launch, the tram has already covered nearly 1 million km, or 300 trips per day, and carried approximately 12 million passengers, with peaks of about 4,000 and 5,000 passengers per hour during morning and evening rush hours, respectively.
During those 12 months, 50 accidents were recorded, resulting in 43 injuries, 3 of which involved fractures. These figures are within the norm. For example, the accident rate for the Liège tram is 0.6 accidents per 10,000 km traveled, compared to 0.9 for the Brussels transport company MIVB/STIB.
The reliability rate rose from 95% in 2025 to 97% in early 2026, with a target of 99%.
The busiest stops, especially during school terms, are Saint-Lambert, Guillemins, Avroy, Léman, Standard, and Opéra, all of which are strategic hubs in the network.
High fraud rate, P+R parking’s underused
However, fraud remains a major issue. There were 2,584 fraud cases, for a fraud rate of 17%. 70% of these involved passengers without a valid ticket, and 20% involved failure to validate tickets. LETEC. plans to address the problem by making it easier to purchase tickets, improving the visibility of ticket validators, and increasing inspections.
Another area for improvement is park-and-ride. These facilities remain underutilized. By the end of 2025, P+R parking lots had an occupancy rate of only 10-15%. Since February 2026, a simplified daily rate of €1.50 has been in effect, but a massive shift from cars to trams has yet to materialize.
For your information, the Liège tram line has been shortened: the planned extensions to Herstal and Seraing were scrapped, leaving large population centers in the metropolitan area unserved. Without that connectivity, the tram remains an urban line that covers too small a portion of the broader network to compete with cars truly.
