How a station meter in Brussels quietly disappears: “It is immediately sent to the machine”

Not everyone can handle it. Maria Paul, 80, and her son Frederik, 56, who is disabled, have come from Brussels to ask for help. Frederik has to take the train next week, so they want to ask about the possibilities now. “I used to take him by car, but gradually I no longer feel safe doing that,” says Paul. “We are definitely coming to ask now.”

She is assisted by a staff member, surrounded by other passengers who need help. “For us, machines are very difficult,” says Paul. “I’m anti-machine anyway, and I don’t have a smartphone. It’s not always easy for the elderly and disabled.”

“No more public service”

The Walloon travellers’ organisation Navetteurs also sees this. Together with the French-speaking railway union CSC Transcom, this organisation argued a few days ago to keep enough staff at the stations.

“The human contact and service is not what it used to be. A lot of people miss that personal assistance, especially seniors and people with disabilities,” says organization spokesman Jerry Bailey. “Staff are obligated to send you to the vending machine. It’s a shame that customer service has been reduced to this level.”

However, having staff behind the counters is “essential” for an organization to provide a high-quality service. “At the counter, they always tell you the best price, but at the machine, you have to know it yourself.” Navetteurs fears that this trend will continue and that more and more stations will operate without staff.

Banks

GOTIB, the French-speaking travellers’ organisation in Brussels, points out another problem: “There is still the travel shop, but it is actually for international traffic. For domestic traffic, travellers are sent to the vending machines,” says Jacques Bunge of GOTIB. However, this is not entirely clear: since the lockdown in April, the former ticket offices in the central hall of Brussels Central have had a large arrow pointing to the travel shop, without indicating that this is for international tickets.

The situation is particularly problematic at smaller stations, Bunge says. Although larger stations like Brussels South still have ticket offices, travellers at other stations – Brussels has a total of 32 train stations, five of them large – rely entirely on ticket machines. “This is a trend we see not only in public transport, but also in banks. Personal contact is disappearing and everything is done via machines,” he says.