February is the shortest month and so there is a short list of novelties. For example, train tickets will become slightly more expensive, primary psychological care for young people and children will be offered free of charge and Brussels will become stricter for shared scooters, bicycles and scooters. We list for you what is changing.
LOOK. At the end of last year, not everyone was aware that NMBS ticket prices were becoming more expensive: “Even more expensive?”
Train tickets will become 6 percent more expensive
Railway company NMBS will increase most rates by 5.9 percent on February 1. This concerns the prices of, among other things standard tickets, subscriptions and multi-journey tickets.
According to NMBS, the higher prices reflect high inflation, which has also increased the railway company’s costs. The increase is also in accordance with the public service contract with the government, the railway company says. In 2023, rates had also risen sharply, by an average of around 9 percent.
The price increase relates to regulated rates such as commuting, school and commuting season tickets, the Standard Ticket (the regular train ticket) and the Senior and Youth Tickets 2nd class, as well as the ticket with a discount and Increased Allowance. The non-regulated rates (such as the Youth Multi, Standard Multi and Local Multi multi-journey cards) will also become 5.9 percent more expensive.
Only the prices of the City Pass in Antwerp, Ghent, Charleroi and Liège and the bicycle supplement remain unchanged.
Free offer of primary psychological care for children and young people up to 24 years of age
Children and young people up to 23 years old can use a g from February 1free offer from conventional primary care psychologists and orthopedagogues. This is a new step in the reform of Federal Minister of Health Frank Vandenbroucke (Vooruit) to make psychological care in primary care more accessible.
The free offer for children and young people is part of the new agreement between the Riziv and the 32 mental health care networks. “The aim of the reform is to make mental health care more accessible and to make it accessible, local and close to the living, learning and playing environment of children and young people,” Minister Vandenbroucke explains. “That is why we also want to put clinical psychologists and educational psychologists to work outside the walls of their practice to avoid long-term psychological problems.”
The number of reimbursed interventions over a period of 12 months depends on the type of care and the type of network (depending on age). The health insurance pays the largest part of the price per session, and does so immediately via the third-party payment scheme.
In concrete terms, this concerns, for example, community-oriented interventions (group sessions with at least ten people) at the CLB, in schools or in OverKop houses. These are also free for adults.
For children and young people up to the age of 23, first-line psychological support is also provided free of charge, including at the CLB, in the school, in the practice or at home, with a maximum of ten group or individual sessions. Short-term treatments for children and young people with mild to moderate problems will also no longer require co-payments, with a maximum of twenty sessions.
Stricter framework for shared scooters, bicycles and scooters in Brussels
In Brussels, a stricter framework applies to shared scooters, bicycles and scooters from February 1. For example, the number of shared scooters drops from 20,000 to 8,000 and the scooters and bicycles are allowed to can only be parked in the designated zones.
Last summer, the Brussels government approved a new decision for a better regulation of shared scooters and shared bicycles in Brussels. The aim was to limit the number of providers and the fleet as well as to prohibit parking outside designated zones (drop zones).
According to the new regulations, users will no longer be able to lock their vehicle outside a designated zone at the end of their journey – the so-called drop zones. To date, Brussels Mobility and the Brussels municipalities have set up more than 1,300 such drop zones. This should increase to 1,500 in the coming weeks.
The system will be operational from February 1 in eleven Brussels municipalities: Ixelles, Etterbeek, Evere, Ganshoren, Jette, Koekelberg, Sint-Agatha-Berchem, Sint-Gillis, Sint-Pieters-Woluwe, Oudergem and Watermaal-Bosvoorde. For the remaining eight municipalities, operators will use their GPS tracking system to lock virtual drop zones at locations chosen by the authorities. Anyone who parks outside those zones will not be able to cancel their rental.
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