STIB is testing a new system of contactless payment at metro station Parc/Park to allow travellers to directly scan their bank card, instead of a ticket, at the gates.
If everything goes well, all other metro stops, as well as the electric buses on bus line 33, will be outfitted with the contactless system over the next few months.
By cutting out the step of buying a ticket at the machines to scan at the entrance gates, STIB wants to make the step for people to start using public transport a lot smaller.
"The bank card will become the ticket," said Françoise Ledune, a STIB spokesperson to RTBF.
"If you change buses, trams or metros on your journey, you will have to validate each time in front of these new readers with the same bank card. The same goes for passing through the gates to get out of the metro, for example," she added.
If the traveller does not exceed the travel time of 60 minutes, the price of one basic ticket will be debited from their bank account.
"We are doing internal tests," said An Van Hamme, the spokesperson for STIB, to Bruzz. STIB is testing to see if there will be no double payments when travellers scan their wallets containing several bank cards.
In total, STIB purchased a total of 6,200 devices to implement the technology over the entire metro network and the electric buses on line 33.
The system, allowing travellers to pay contactless for STIB tickets, should be operational by next summer at the latest, reports Bruzz.
Maïthé Chini
The Brussels Times
