How I was forced to take the bus in the Belgian La Roche-en-Ardenne without a ticket

​ME.TALK - First of all. That's not what I usually do. I always pay for my public transportation ticket. But the Belgian governement-regulated bus company TEC makes it bloody difficult, or even impossible, for non-regular customers to buy a single ticket.

by Hanan

Let me explain the situation. I hiked from the railway station Melreux to La Roche-en-Ardenne in Belgium. It's a hike through the mountains from 36 kilometres (22,4 miles) and almost 12 hours. The next day in the morning I wanted to go back by public bus to Melreux to take a train back home. It's only a 25-minute ride by bus from La Roche-en-Ardenne to the railway station in Melreux.

So, why I didn't buy I a ticket? Let's tell me this crazy story about what happend in the tiny Belgium, my home country by the way.

Vending machines

First of all, I could only buy a ticket at the vending machines if I have a MOBIB card. A MOBIB card is a contactless, electronic chip card that is issued as a ticket for public transport in Belgium. Now I certainly have such a MOBIB card, so I was very happy, but this happiness was short-lived. My MOBIB card was issued by an other government-regulated company De Lijn, the bus company in Flanders and La Roche-en-Ardenne is in Wallonia. So my MOBIB card wasn't accepted.

Complicated Belgium

To understand this, you have to know that this tiny country of Belgium has three regions, three official languages and three communities. Some regions have two languages, others one or three. Same with the communities. This is complicated even for many Belgians.

"Even the Belgian government don't understand it anymore."

Let me explain. The three regions are: Brussels, Flanders and Wallonia. Brussels has two official languages: Dutch and French; and has three communities: the Flemish, French and German Community. Flanders has one official language: Dutch; and has one community: the Flemish Community. And Wallonia has two official languages, but not at the entire territory such as Brussels. In one part, one speaks French and another part speaks German. Wallonia has two communities: the French and German Community. Do you still understand? No! Don't worry, even the Belgian government don't understand it anymore. Oh, yes, still forgotten. Belgium als has six governments and only 11 milion inhabitants.

So with only 11 milion people in a tiny country, with three very small regions, they have in Belgium three government-regulated bus companies. In every small region a different one. All three the bus companies with different prices, different systems to buy a ticket and different MOBIB cards. But one owner, the government, one of the six. Crazy, isn't it?

Buying online

My second option was buying online a ticket with my smartphone. It's 2020, so that couldn't be that difficult. I installed very fast the app, because the bus almost arrived. Bloody, they don't sell tickets at the app. Maybe they sell tickets at their website, were immediatly my thoughts. Within seconds my hope melt away like tiny dewdrops. At their website it's only possible to buy a ticket with a MOBIB card, only the right one you have to understand, the one issued by TEC.

Ticket at the bus

Maybe I could buy my ticket with the driver, I was thinking. The driver said it was unpossible because covid-19. I can understand. I blame nobody for that. And the bus went to the railway station, and I had to stay in La Roche-en-Ardenne. No ticket is no bus ride.

Two hours for the next bus, that's also two hours to find a bus ticket. That couldn't be difficult. La Roche-en-Ardenne is an important holiday centre with impressive tourist amenities to please all types of visitors. That's what I read at the tourism website of La Roche-en-Ardenne. They call themself at their website 'The Jewel of the Ardennes'. Ardennes is a region of extensive forests, rough terrain, rolling hills and ridges, located primarily in Belgium and Luxembourg, but stretching as well into Germany and France. And I was in the jewel of it, that would be very easy to find a single bus ticket.

In a shop

Maybe they could answer me at the Tourism Office, those who claim they are the jewel of the Ardennes. It seems that the shop Le Lithérer - a few steps away from the Tourism Office and the bus station - the only place in town is where they sell single bus tickets. I discovered this very fast at the Tourism Office.

"We don't have anymore single tickets, sir."

"13.50 euro, sir." I explained in my best possible French again to the shop seller from Le Lithérer that I only need one single ticket for a bus ride fom 25 minutes. "With this ticket you can go four times or with four people, sir." For the third time I explained that I just need one single ticket for one person. I know my French isn't perfect, but I never thought it would be so bad that I couldn't buy a ticket. "We don't have anymore single tickets, sir."

You can understand that I'm not that crazy that I go to buy four tickets if I only need one. I went back to the Tourism Office. The friendly lady in the office told me she would go on the bus without a ticket. And that's what I did. Sorry TEC.

BELGIUM | ME.TALK | BACKPACKING |
​STORY

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POST BY
Thierry Hanan Scheers
With a backpack  and hiking boots Hanan travels around the world. Destination? Somewhere, nowhere and everywhere.
backpacker and storyteller

PHOTO
​Thierry Hanan Scheers

EDIT PHOTO
​Apriyan Santoso

7 September 2020