SNCB proposes to its board of directors to index its tariffs on 1 February 2023 according to the provisions of its management contract. The expected increase is 9.73% for subscriptions and 8.73% for the standard ticket and its derivatives, L’Echo and De Tijd reveal on Saturday.
The rise in energy prices should be particularly expensive for the electricity-hungry SNCB. Between 2020 and 2023, its bill would increase from 123 to 432 million. A chasm which is combined with the indexation of wages, which represents an additional charge of 165 million euros, further specifies the company.
It will index, it is now a certainty
The minimum rate would be maintained at 2.5 euros. The “Youth” and “Senior” flat-rate tickets would be increased by 50 and 60 cents respectively to go to 7.10 and 7.80 euros. The “holiday” packages would increase by 1 euro for the one-week formula and by 2 euros for the one-month formula.
The SNCB share of the Citypass would increase by 12.5%. Over a full year, this indexation would inflate the company’s revenue by 69.5 million euros, estimated the SNCB. Its board of directors recently “took note” of management’s intentions. “It will index, it is now a certainty”, assures a source close to the file. SNCB should also ask its supervisory minister to obtain additional compensation. Asked by L’Echo, Georges Gilkinet is evasive at this stage, but his firm says it is working on measures to mitigate the impact of inflation for travellers. He has already announced that he wants to abolish VAT on tickets.