Belgium, whose cultural and linguistic differences have led to an increased fracturing of its government structures along those lines has two bits of good news to show for the past couple of weeks: a new prime minister and a plan for a unified transit ticket.
The new Prime Minister, Alexander de Croo, got his job after a complex process that's dragged on in complex negotiations since May 2019 elections that left the country's legislative seats split among 14 parties that don't fit into easy categories. There's a clutch of Flemish-speaking parties ranged from left to right and a similar array of French-speaking parties as well as a few that defy categorization. Seven of the fourteen parties are in the new sort-of-centrist coalition.
The bus ticket issue is simpler, although it also applies to trams, metros and regional parts of the national rail system. Brussels is a largely Francophone island in an island of Flanders, the Dutch/Flemish speaking part of the nation. Flanders has its own transit system, De Lijn, that runs into the city. From nearby areas of Wallonia, the French-speaking region, TEC brings other commuters into the city.
Up to now, commuters needed a ticket for one of these systems and one for STIB, the Brussels transit system. Anyone going through Brussels to the other areas has needed three tickets. Flanders and Wallonia signed on to a unified ticket plan several years ago, but it hasn't been implemented because until this week, Brussels itself hadn't agreed.
But, don't rush for the kiosk yet. The new government's Federal Transport Minister, a Green Party member who has responsibility for the SNCB railroad net, must now work out details with the three Transport Ministers of the three regions.
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