New Year in Brussels: Free and beefed-up public transport announced

New Year’s Eve revellers can take advantage of free travel on the Stib/Mivb network in Brussels from midnight 31 December until the start of service on Wednesday 1 January. During these hours, metro, tram and bus services will be stepped up and extended, reports RTBF.

All metro lines will be bolstered and run until 2.00. From 20.00, metro trains on line 2 (Simonis-Elisabeth) will be extended along line 6 to Heysel Station. Also from 20.00, the metro will run more frequently with a train every 10 minutes on lines 1 and 5.

On line 6, the metro will run every five minutes until 23.30 and every three minutes from 23.30 to 2.15, serving passengers travelling to and from the Atomium esplanade, the site of the capital’s traditional end-of-year firework display.

In addition, all tram lines will follow suit with a strengthened and more frequent service until 2.15. From 20.00, lines 3, 4 and 7 are scheduled to run every 10 minutes. Additional trams will also run on line 51 between Stade and Lemonnier from 22.00 to 1.45. All Noctis buses will run along an extended route until 5.00. Bus line 89 will run until 2.00.

Due to the celebrations in Heysel, the King Baudouin station will be closed from 18.00 on 31 December until 8.00 on 1 January. Heysel station will remain open, but the Avenue Impératrice Charlotte access will be closed from 18.00. Stuyvenbergh will be closed from midnight and trams on line 7 will only stop at Centenaire from 19.00 until the end of service and will not stop at Heysel.

Photo: Mark Renders/BELGA