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Interview with Alain Flausch, Chief Administrative Officer of STIB-MIVB |
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 "STIB: a network at the heart of Europe
The STIB Brussels Area Transport Company has seen spectacular growth in passenger numbers over the last few years. In eight years, traffic on the Brussels network has increased by 70%. Adjusting to this influx of customers was an issue of urgent necessity, with massive investment in new vehicles, metro units, buses and more spacious trams. Network operations have undergone significant changes and now extend to the city's new growth hubs and offer a more regular, frequent service to passengers. Back-office services, depots and workshops have also been upgraded. A new Metro depot has just been commissioned, a tram depot is currently under construction, and the search is continuing to find land for new facilities. One could say that the STIB is moving fast and inviting its passengers to do the same, thanks to higher-performing, more environmentally-friendly public transport.
The STIB is proud and delighted to have been chosen as a guest of honour alongside Carris from Lisbon for this exhibition which brings together professionals from across the industry. This is no doubt a way of acknowledging the efforts which have gone into making the Brussels public transport network one worthy of the capital of Europe. There's no shortage of plans for further development, either. The first of these involves redeploying the metro network. Soon, the city will be served by four lines instead of three, to be complemented by two high-speed tramlines. The other major challenge for the STIB in the coming months will be the installation of a new e-ticketing system, enabling better apprehension of customer travelling habits and thus match supply to demand better. In the long term, the system should enable passengers to benefit from a real integrated mobility portfolio. Customers will be able to use a single card to buy STIB, Thalys or even RATP journeys, as well as season tickets for parking, bike hire and car-pooling.
Projects of this nature are made possible only by examining the best examples provided by colleagues from other nations. The STIB has a long tradition of benchmarking as it searches for best practices and expertise from other operators involved in similar projects, a tradition which has been put to good use for the ticketing project.
Furthermore, the STIB will be making the most of this event in Paris to highlight its own national and international expertise developed with respect to tramways. Unlike some other cities, Brussels has never abandoned trams and thus has over a century and a half of experience, with 15 tramlines currently in operation using over 300 vehicles. Indeed, the experience of the STIB in terms of network construction, the renovation and maintenance of all the networks and operations - for example, real-time management and regulation of vehicles and driving simulators - is attracting increasing interest from operators and manufacturers alike.
Exhibitions like the one in Paris are highly favourable to discussions between operators. It is in this spirit of openness and debate that the STIB intends to make its contribution to this major public transport event". |
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Alain Flausch
Chief Administrative Officer |
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