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A new public service contract and a new era for De Lijn.

Striking choices were made in the new management agreement, which will henceforth be called public service contract is packed. After the management agreement was previously postponed by a year by Flemish Minister of Mobility Lydia Peeters (Open VLD), private partners may now play a greater role and De Lijn is allowed to adjust ticket prices for the first time. decide yourself.

The Flemish government has high expectations of the transport company. De Lijn ensures common urban and regional transport in Flanders and must entice even more travelers to leave their car behind for at least part of the journey. In the coming years, the company will face one of the most dramatic transformations in its history.

entrance fee

In the management agreement, the mutual rights and obligations between the Flemish government and the transport company are laid down for a number of years. The freedom to determine the prices itself gives the Flemish transport company the opportunity to, for example, make tickets more expensive during rush hours and cheaper during off-peak hours. De Lijn will be allowed to make fewer journeys itself in the coming years. This in turn is favorable for private companies and tenants.

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The tram infrastructure in particular is in bad shape and urgently requires overdue maintenance.

”This public service contract offers future prospects for De Lijn. The increase in structural investment resources and stable operating resources will enable De Lijn to make a leap in quality in terms of service, sustainability and efficiency. The various pillars of our strategy, passion for the customer, together a stronger, agile and high-performance organization, and stable financing, are now also anchored in this public service contract.”

save

In recent years much too much has been saved. The supply was not reduced, so the savings were mainly achieved by cutting back on maintenance. The tram infrastructure in particular is in bad shape and urgently requires overdue maintenance. De Lijn also faces the challenge of making the bus fleet completely green in the coming years. By realizing the further electrification of the vehicle fleet, the objectives of the coalition agreement can be achieved as quickly as possible. Before 2035 at the latest, all buses throughout Flanders will be emission-free.

MaaS

The Flemish government also expects that De Lijn will proactively and future-oriented support new mobility applications such as Mobility as a Service (MaaS), among other things through an appropriate open data policy. By using new technologies, De Lijn must ensure as much as possible that it makes smooth connections with other public transport companies and transport regions.

The management agreement between the Flemish government and De Lijn was previously tacitly extended. According to Peeters, it was not possible to conclude a new service contract with De Lijn due to various factors, which was to take effect at the beginning of 2022. The left-wing opposition parties Groen and Vooruit then reacted with disappointment at the lack of a new agreement.

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