De Lijn unions suspend ticket inspections in Antwerp after assault on controller

A pause in inspections is not free travel. De Lijn’s official travel conditions require passengers to buy or activate a ticket before or while boarding and to validate it again whenever they transfer. Holders of a MOBIB season ticket must scan the card at every boarding and transfer, even though the subscription itself is already paid. They should also carry identification because personalised products may be checked against an identity document.

Visitors should note the local terminology. In Dutch-speaking Flanders, including Antwerpen and its district Berchem, signs and announcements usually use vervoerbewijs for ticket, abonnement for season ticket and controle for inspection. De Lijn offers parts of its website in English and French, but Dutch remains the operational language most commonly encountered on vehicles and at stops. This is a Flemish regional service, not the Brussels operator STIB-MIVB or the Walloon operator TEC, so their tickets are not automatically interchangeable unless a specific integrated product says otherwise.

Passengers can purchase through the De Lijn app or website, use contactless payment where available, or choose another accepted product. The operator’s current official guidance says that a standard ticket costs €3 as of September 2026. Its published penalty table lists a first type-1 fine of €127 for an adult travelling without a valid ticket, while fraud or directly dangerous behaviour can fall under the more serious type-2 category. Prices and penalties can change, so travellers should consult delijn.be rather than rely on an old screenshot or travel blog.

If a validator fails, do not simply take a seat and assume the fault will excuse the journey. De Lijn says passengers must still have valid proof of travel and should use an available alternative or contact customer service where a serious personal circumstance prevents validation. Keep the ticket, app confirmation or payment evidence. For live disruption information, check the De Lijn app, its route planner and stop displays; the union call concerned inspections, not a general strike, and no network-wide cancellation was confirmed.

The assault sharpens a difficult tension in Flemish transport policy. The Flemish government expects stronger enforcement against fare evasion, while controllers say numerical and revenue targets cannot come before safe staffing. VRT NWS reported in June 2025 that De Lijn’s anti-fare-evasion programme included more controllers, targeted inspections informed by passenger data, cooperation with police and security firms, higher fines and planned access gates in Antwerp’s premetro. The programme was connected to a Flemish coalition objective of generating €30 million annually through action against fare evasion.

The unions do not dispute that tickets should be checked. Their position is that enforcement must be organised around the foreseeable risk: Van der Herten argued that four controllers are not excessive for a standard bus when a team may face several aggressive passengers. ACV also wants bodycams introduced more quickly. Het Nieuwsblad reported that a legislative change was still required and that deployment was expected during spring 2027, although that timetable remains subject to the law and procurement being completed.

De Lijn and the Flemish mobility authorities, meanwhile, frame controls as both a fairness measure and part of public safety. In announcing the enforcement plan, De Lijn director-general Ann Schoubs said better use of data should allow staff to focus on higher-risk routes and times. Flemish Mobility Minister Annick De Ridder coupled the policy with a stated zero-tolerance approach to aggression and supported bodycams for frontline staff, according to VRT NWS.

The concern is not confined to one Saturday evening. During a Flemish Parliament committee meeting in March 2025, figures cited from a ministerial answer recorded roughly 2,300 incidents of aggression involving De Lijn staff during 2024 and 3,161 days of incapacity for work. Such totals can include different forms and degrees of verbal or physical aggression, so they should not be read as 2,300 assaults comparable to the Berchem case. They nevertheless explain why a single confrontation can trigger an immediate collective response.

Earlier incidents have also disrupted Antwerp services. VRT NWS reported a short stoppage in March 2024 after a driver employed by subcontractor Autocars De Polder was punched, and three De Lijn controllers were lightly injured during a separate confrontation on Antwerp’s IJzerlaan in January 2025. These episodes show how violence affects more than the direct victim: colleagues may stop work, vehicles can be delayed and passengers lose confidence in the network.

For anyone witnessing aggression, De Lijn’s official safety page advises contacting the driver or emergency services when necessary and recording the location, route and vehicle number—the four-, five- or six-digit identifier displayed on the front and rear. A witness should not physically intervene where doing so creates additional danger. Reports can also be made to De Lijn, while immediate threats belong with police through 101 or the European emergency number 112.

The next decision rests with the emergency consultation between management and unions: whether inspections resume quickly and what staffing or operational safeguards are offered. Separately, police and prosecutors must determine what happens to the four men taken in for questioning. Until those processes advance, the duration of the inspection pause, the controller’s recovery and the eventual judicial outcome remain unknown.