As a result of the smog alert in force throughout Belgium on Friday, Brussels metro company STIB has made it free to use public transport on Friday 25/3 and Saturday 26/3, in order lessen vehicle traffic and its polluting effects in Brussels.
The monitoring networks of all three of Belgium’s regions have been indicating high concentrations of fine dust for several days now, and the accumulated air pollution combined with continued unfavourable meteorological conditions will only worsen the amount of particulate matter in the air.
‼️ HERINNERING ‼️ https://t.co/DP0FWoOdeG
— STIB-MIVB (@STIBMIVB) March 25, 2022
Brussels especially has long struggled with high levels of air pollution – even in its green spaces – and vehicle traffic adds to the dilemma.
Taking cars off the road during peak pollution times
Due to the peaks in pollution, mobility platform Bolt is also hoping to encourage people to take advantage of soft mobility options by offering users a 50% discount for all scooters-trips taken during the alert, hoping to draw attention to alternate means of mobility and encourage residents to avoid using their cars.
“At Bolt, we are a partner of the cities, and the environment is one of our pillars,” said Oualid Benhammadi, Country Manager Micro-mobility at Bolt.
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“The objective of this action is to contribute to the reduction of smog levels and to draw the attention of the Brussels inhabitants to the use of sustainable modes of transport.”
Benhammadi added that sustainable mobility is often “the easiest and most efficient way to get around,” smog or no smog.
“It is simply a good habit to get into. We will therefore decrease our scooters prices by 50% to offer users the possibility to use our shared scooters for €0.10/min, with unlocking fees still free.”
Note: This article was updated to include the fact that STIB services will be free.
