- OPERATION

The Brussels Metro operates from 5:00 to 1:00 and trains run every 7 minutes.

- FARES (2007, in Euros)

All tickets are valid within one hour with transfer to buses, trams or suburban trains and have to be cancelled each time you get on a bus, tram or metro:

Single tickets - EUR 1.50

5-ride ticket - EUR 6.70

10-ride ticket - EUR 11.00

Day-pass - EUR 4.00

- All fares subject to change -

Brussels, the capital of Belgium, is also home of most of the European Union's institutions. The city (about 1 million inh.) is right in the centre of the country and bilingual: French (Bruxelles) and Flemish (Brussel), the Belgian variant of Dutch. So some station names are therefore bilingual.

The Brussels Metro started as a pré-métro system which could be compared to German Stadtbahn systems (Cologne, Stuttgart, Essen, Hannover, etc.) with important sections of underground tunnels used by various tram routes. In 1969 the first tram tunnel along today's Line 1 was opened between Schuman and De Brouckere, and in 1970 today's Line 2 between Madou and Porte de Namur.

Line 1 began as a full metro line in 1976 and grew steadily at both ends with two branches on each side (1A and 1B) (22 km): 1976 De Broukere - Beaulieu and Tomberg; 1977 to St. Katelijne and Demey; 1981 to Beekkant; 1982 to St.Guido and Bockstael and to Alma; 1985 to Hermann Debroux, Heizel and to Veeweide; 1988 to Stokkel; 1992 to Bizet; in Aug. 1998 Heizel station was put underground and Line 1A extended to Koning Boudewijn. An extension of Line 1B from Bizet to Erasme Hospital opened in 2003.

Line 2 grew along the inner ring road as a pré-métro line until 1985 and was eventually converted to full metro operation in 1988 (Zuid-Clemenceau 1993) (7,5 km). An extension of this line from Clemenceau to Beekkant via Delacroix is under construction.

The North-South Prémétro (shown as Line 3 on older maps) went underground in 1976 between Noord and Lemonnier; it was extended further to Albert in Dec. 1993 and is now operated as a tram tunnel. The Outer Ringroad Prémétro Line (on older maps Line 5) crossing Line 1 at Montgomery was opened between 1972 (Diamant) and 1975.