Lawsuit threatens NMBS/SNCB over cheaper tickets via app

Consumer organization Testaankoop/Test Achat (TA) and equal opportunities center Unia threaten a lawsuit against Belgian public railroad company NMBS/SNCB for “digital discrimination.” This is because some tickets can be purchased cheaper via the app than at the ticket counter and vending machines. Other tickets, in turn, are only available via the app.

The two organizations are giving NMBS/SNCB an ultimatum until August 31. If NMBS/SNCB does not confirm by then that it will no longer apply digital preferential fares and an exclusive digital offer, a lawsuit will be filed.

Difference of €2 to €3

The source of irritation is the Standard Multi, the 10-ride ticket, which NMBS/SNCB offers 3 euros cheaper via the app. For the Youth Multi, the equivalent of the Standard Multi for minus 26-year-olds, the price difference is 2 euros. In addition, NMBS/SNCB offers a Flex pass that allows travelers to travel two to three times a week on the same route, but only through the app.

According to Unia and TA, NMBS/SNCB believes that its management contract allows a price advantage for digital products. Also, the cabinet of Minister of Mobility Georges Gilkinet (Ecolo) stresses in a reaction that the management contract indeed allows this.

Moreover, NMBS/SNCB argues that only a limited number of tickets are involved and that the price difference is minimal. Digital products would also reduce opportunities for fraud, provoke fewer discussions with train conductors, and promote ease of use.

“Not above the law”

But Unia and TA call these arguments “unconvincing.” Moreover, both organizations believe that the policy, as outlined in the management contract and applied by NMBS/SNCB, also violates the Charter of Fundamental Rights of the Union, the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities, and Articles 10 and 11 of the Constitution.

“A management contract is not above the law,” TA told La Libre Belgique newspaper. “If the problem lies in this treaty, it is all the more worrying because the supervisory authority has validated its content.”

“Unia strives for equal access for every person to public and private automated or digitized services,” says Unia director Els Keytsman. “The digital divide is a reality, and it is our job as a consumer organization to close that gap as much as possible,” says Laura Clays, spokesperson for TA.

“It is therefore unthinkable that we would accept that the – still very present – group of people who do not have sufficient digital skills should be made more difficult to pay fair prices for their train tickets.”

40% of the Belgian population is still digitally vulnerable

According to the most recent Digital Inclusion Barometer prepared in June on behalf of the King Baudouin Foundation (KBS), 40% of the Belgian population was digitally vulnerable in 2023. That large group never uses the Internet, or their digital knowledge leaves much to be dished.

For the KBS, the figures make it “clear that the digital world is and will remain inaccessible to many people, especially those in a socially, economically and culturally vulnerable position.”

For years, the NMBS/SNCB has been pursuing a policy of eliminating unprofitable physical ticket counters and shortening opening hours. At the same time, it is putting more and more effort into digitalizing its points of sale, justifying the measures in part by a “change in customer habits.”