Stib slashes price of passes for over-65s

From 1 July, all Brussels residents over 65 will be able to travel the whole of the capital’s bus, metro and tram network for €12 a year, Brussels public transport company Stib has announced.

It is a significant reduction of the current €60 per year price, which all seniors living outside the Brussels region will still have to pay.

The measure making the annual cost for public transport in Brussels the same as it is for the under-25s was decided and financed by the Brussels government to "allow senior travellers to get around in the city more easily and therefore participate actively in Brussels’ social and cultural life", Stib said.

"It is a way to encourage them to use public transport more and leave their car in the garage."

Brussels minister-president Rudi Vervoort said it was important that "our seniors can get around our region at an affordable price and without exerting themselves too much. As stated, some seniors prefer not to drive any more and others think that distances are too long to walk."

The €12 youth price has applied to school passes from July 2021 and to all young people living in Brussels (at school or university or not) since February 2022. The significant drop in price from €50 per year has resulted in a strong increase in youth pass sales.

Stib wants to repeat this success with the older generation and Brussels mobility minister Elke Van den Brandt is confident it will: “We believe this price reduction will have a similar result for the over-65s, for whom walking or cycling is not always an option.”

The cheaper season tickets need to be loaded on to a personal Mobib card and can be bought at a BOOTIK sales point or online.

In 2022, Stib sold 54,000 annual passes for seniors, with 46,209 of them going to Brussels residents.