Transport and the shape of the city in Brussels

MOBIB and the fare system

STIB/MIVB runs the metro, trams and buses inside the region, while SNCB/NMBS trains, De Lijn and TEC buses cross into Flanders and Wallonia. The MOBIB card is the rechargeable smartcard the tickets sit on, and the Brupass and Brupass XL products let one ticket cover all four operators within the region and its immediate surroundings. Season tickets are much cheaper per journey than singles, and employers commonly reimburse commuting costs in full.

• MOBIB card, then load a season ticket or journey credit onto it.
• Brupass covers the region across operators; Brupass XL extends to the nearby periphery.
• Under-25s and over-65s have heavily discounted annual passes.

The network in practice

The metro is small but useful, and trams do most of the heavy lifting, including the underground pre-metro sections through the centre. SNCB trains are often the fastest way across the city — the north–south junction links Bruxelles-Midi, Central and Nord in minutes and most communes have a station. Service is dense on weekdays and noticeably thinner at weekends and in August.

Cars, parking and the low-emission zone

The regional low-emission zone applies to the whole of Brussels and excludes older vehicles on a published schedule that has been revised more than once, so check your specific vehicle against the current rules before bringing it. Parking is regulated commune by commune, with resident cards issued by your commune and rates and rules that change when you cross a boundary. Congestion on the ring and the tunnels is severe at peak, and the city has been steadily reducing through-traffic in residential areas.

• Check the LEZ status of your registration before importing or buying.
• Resident parking cards come from your commune and are valid in its zones only.
• Foreign-plated cars must be registered with the LEZ system to circulate.

Bikes, and getting out

Cycling has grown quickly with new protected lanes, though the city is hillier than the Netherlands and the driving culture is less accommodating; Villo! is the public bike-share scheme. Zaventem airport is a short train ride from the central stations, with a supplement built into fares to the airport station; Charleroi, used by low-cost carriers, is an hour away by coach. High-speed trains reach Paris, London, Amsterdam and Cologne from Bruxelles-Midi, which is what makes Brussels genuinely well placed rather than merely central on a map.