Re: [VIC] Antwerp's ticketing system

[Ian Jelf <ian@bluebadge.demon.co.uk>]

In article <9ebpgu$3a9$1@merrick.home>, Paul Dwerryhouse <paul+usenet@dw
erryhouse.com.au> writes
>Hi all,
> 
>I've just spent the weekend in Antwerp, Belgium, where the ticketing system 
>on their trams, buses and pre-metro looks suspiciously like MetCrud - in terms
>of the ticket and validator shape.
They are indeed the same.   In fact, I think one Melburnian regular in
aus.rail and a good friend of mine once went so far as to try putting an
Antwerp ticket in a Met machine "too see what would happen"!

>Does anyone know if the mob who did Melbourne's system also had a hand
>in Antwerp's system? Presumably it was done earlier than Melbourne's - the
>validators look a bit older.
> 
>Interestingly enough, the validators had a bunch of buttons on the front of
>them, labelled [10+], [1], [2] ... [10]. Not sure what they were for, but
>my guess would be to allow more than one person to travel on a multi-trip
>ticket, which can't be done on Melbourne's system.
That's one of the reasons they're there.   The other is that what you're
looking at isn't actually a system for *Antwerp* but for the whole of
Flanders (and possibly the whole of Belgium).   The country is divided
up into innumerable zones and you can use a stored value ticket for
travel with transfers through as many zones as necessary to complete the
journey.   If you travel though five zones, you press the "5" button and
validate away!
-- 
Ian Jelf        http://www.bluebadge.demon.co.uk
Birmingham, UK
        Registered "Blue Badge" Tourist Guide
        for the Heart of England and London