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The city of Brussels and nearby areas are served by the STIB/MVIB - which shows the bilingual nature of the country of Belgium. The French STIB stands for
Société des Transports Intercommunaux de Bruxelles, while the Dutch MVIB stands for Maatschappij voor het Intercommunaal Vervoer te Brussel
- both translate into Brussels Intercommunity Transport Company. Brussels itself consists of 19 or so interlinked communities, rather than one large city - thus the name.
Brussels is also
served by the SCNB/NMBS (Société des Chemins de Fer National de Belgique/Nationale Maatschappij der Belgische Spoorwegen, a.k.a. Belgian National Railway Company), and De Lijn, which is an intercity bus and
tram operator (serving Antwerpen (or Anvers in French) and other areas of Flanders, the northern part of Belgium).
Brussels is diverse in its transport modes – in addition to the ubiquitous bus, there
are trams in both street and underground ("premétro") operation, and heavy rail (which originally started out as underground tram tunnels). In addition, there is an excellent tram museum located in
Woluwe, in the eastern part of Brussels (served by tram lines 39 and 44).
The bilingualism is reflected in bus stop and station names – when there is a difference (and there are many) in the French
and Dutch names, both are posted. In the subway, the northwestern terminus of Line (Ligne, Lijn) 1A is either Roi Baudouin or Koning Budewijn – and the dot matrix information signs on the trains and
platforms alternate back and forth between the two. Announcements are also in both Dutch and French.
On bus stop signs in general, the order of the languages is reversed on each side.
(NB: Because the contributor learned French as his first second language (Spanish came later), the names of
the files reflect the French name. This is in no way intended to slight the Dutch-speaking community – in fact, one of this contributors' closest Internet friends is from the Netherlands. When
possible, I will refer to both names in the text.) Text and Pictures below by R. Mullins. |
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This stop is located at the intersection of Rue Franklin/Franklinstraat and Ave. Michel-Ange/Michel Angelo Laan, served by routes 21 (to NATO) and 28 (to Konkel). This is a
typical bus stop in the residential areas – the yellow pole has the stop name, the routes, and a timetable. Note the "BUS" painted on the street to indicate no parking. Picture &
Text by R. Mullins. |
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A typical STIB bus on route 28 on Rue Franklin/Franklinstraat, heading to the nearby Schuman station. The EU Parliament has one of its headquarters at this station,
which is named after Robert Schuman, the Luxembourgian who helped found the European Common Market (forerunner of the EU). |
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The illuminated blue stylized "M" sign is used to mark all entrances to the Brussels Métro system. Brussels has 2 métro lines – 1A/1B, which in general runs NW/SE
across the city – with two branches at each end, and 2, which generally follows the inner Ring Road. This entrance for Line 2 is located on Boul. de Waterloo/Waterloolaan, which is the
inner (clockwise) portion of the Ring Road around Ave. Louise/Louizalaan. The outer ring in this area is Av. de la Toison d'Or/Guilden Vlieslaan. The Ring Road is mostly underground
in this area, coming up for slip roads to various cross streets. The area around Ave. Louise is the Rodeo Drive of Brussels, as evidenced by the Christian Dior and Salvatore Ferragamo stores
visible in this picture. |
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This unfortunately blurry picture is an example of the older style of trams in Brussels. The picture was taken on Rue de la Régence/Konigsstraat and is of a tram
heading southbound on line 92, 93 or 94. (ed: Mr. Mullins has got to learn how to use a camera). |
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From 22 stories up in the Hilton Brussels we have pictures of the Louise/Louiza tram stop. The stop is located in the middle of a roundabout that serves as a feeder for the Ring Road and
Ave. Louise/Louizalaan. The trams are on lines 91, 92, 93 or 94. In #1, a newer model tram will be heading off to the left, while the other (and the one in #2) are older models that are
reminiscent of the American PCC trams – in fact, Belgium was one of the greatest producers of PCC-style trams in western Europe.
The Hilton Brussels is conveniently located across the street from the
Galerie de la Toison d'Or shopping center, where STIB/MVIB has their main headquarters, including an information office. |
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Brussels has an excellent tram museum located at Woluwe, open during the non-winter months. On weekends during that time, historic trams operate between Montgomery station and
Tervuren. The Musée de tram/Trammuseum is located about halfway between the two termini, on tram routes of trams 39 and 44, at stop Dépôt de Woluwe/Woluwe Remise. Unfortunately, as your
contributor was there in December, it was closed. For more info, you may go to http://www.mtub.be/. |
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The stop and shelter eastbound trams at Dépôt de Woluwe/Woluwe Remise. The sign is similar to the bus signs, except for the word "Tram" instead of "Bus". The timetable on
the pole also shows the timetable for the historic tram cars. The museum is located to the left of the viewer. |
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