Public transport company De Lijn counted on average forty percent fewer travelers on its buses and trams in 2021 than before the pandemic started. ‘Many young people have discovered the bicycle.’ Meanwhile, the number of fare dodgers is peaking.
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Many travelers have still not found their way back to public transport. De Lijn saw an average of forty percent fewer travelers this year than in times without a pandemic. And although teleworking is still mandatory and social life is on the back burner, the prognosis is that one in ten travelers will never return. That’s what director-general Ann Schoubs said during a review of the past year.
‘We think that some of the travelers who have not yet returned have permanently chosen another mode of transport,’ said Schoubs. ‘In September, for example, we saw a decline in the purchase of subscriptions by students. We then did a survey and very often got the answer that they had discovered the bicycle. That is of course a valid alternative, and we will not try to get people off their bikes. But we fear that those travelers have left for good. Hopefully we can compensate for that by getting more people out of the car.’
Drivers in quarantine
De Lijn says that its forecast of ten percent fewer passengers is in line with that of other public transport companies, such as the Brussels STIB or the NMBS. De Lijn is considering adjustments to the subscription formulas to respond to the new situation. That could allow for more flexibility. ‘We have a number of proposals ready, which will be discussed with the minister’, says Schoubs.
In an attempt to win back travelers, De Lijn has also launched temporary promotions with lower prices. “But the best way to convince people is to offer good service,” said Schoubs.
Let that not be so obvious in corona times. The number of bus and tram rides that had to be canceled at the last minute peaked in December to a record high of more than two percent. In that month, 850 drivers were not available because they were quarantined at home: almost six times more than in September. Taken over the whole year, the number of canceled journeys at 0.86 percent was rather low compared to previous years.
Peak in fare dodgers
As if all that were not enough, De Lijn is also confronted with a record number of fare dodgers due to the corona crisis. “The reason is that travelers are no longer allowed to board the bus at the front,” said Schoubs, so that the drivers have less control. ‘For some people it seems to have become a matter of course not to pay.’ Last year, De Lijn issued 35,000 fines for fare evasion – more than in 2019, while the number of travelers was therefore 40 percent lower. In urban areas the number of fare dodgers is sometimes forty to fifty percent.
De Lijn is therefore counting on 20 to 30 million euros in lost income. That amount comes on top of the general dip in income due to fewer passengers, and on top of the extra expenditure that De Lijn has to make, including for the increased commitment to hygiene in the buses and communication about the virus. For 2021, the company is counting on a total financial hangover of 108 million euros. The Flemish government has already said that it will certainly match part of that amount.
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