MIVB to invest €4.4 billion
The Brussels public transport authority MIVB is investing €4.4 billion between now and 2022 in “more and better public transport,” announced mobility minister Brigitte Grouwels.
Among the projects are the automation of metro lines 1 and 5, a new tram route from the North Station to Schaarbeek and Evere and construction of a double tram and metro tunnel under the Grondwetplein in Sint-Gillis. MIVB carries 350 million passengers a year, and that figure is predicted to rise to 400 million by 2016. By 2015, the network should be “greener” with the eventual scrapping of all diesel buses.
“I am convinced we are taking a meaningful step towards the so-called modal shift, where people exchange the car for public transport,” Grouwels said. “This agreement will increase the attraction of the tram, bus and metro so that they become the ideal way to get around in Brussels”.
