There is a small maintenance post at the depot in Ypres. It is striking how old the fleet of buses is. And that is the case everywhere in West Flanders. Gianna Werbrouck, Flemish Member of Parliament (Vooruit): “In West Flanders, 47 percent of vehicles are older than 15 years. This causes unsafety and air pollution. That is absolutely not healthy. Vooruit pushed hard on this in the negotiations. We have ensured that a large budget is provided: 400 million euros.”
“Driver, but bus broke down”
But now the new buses have to arrive quickly. The unions also know that De Lijn’s fleet in West Flanders is lagging behind. Petra Depoorter, ACOD West Flanders De Lijn: “A driver’s pride is to take to the road with a decent vehicle and to be able to serve the customer as it should be. The service is super important. It often happens that we do have the drivers available, but the vehicle is not there because it is in repairs and we cannot repair it at the moment.”
Order new buses
Vooruit and the trade union ACOD West Flanders ask the minister to speed up the planned renewal of the fleet and to order new buses.