The Brussels metro has gradually been converted into an urban escape game, deplores our columnist
Until about a decade ago, the Brussels metro was one of the last things in the Belgian capital that functioned more or less properly. Since then, the sad reality playing out in the open air has gone down a level: drug trafficking, insecurity, faulty equipment, construction sites with huge costs… The melody in the basement, dictated by the passage of mechanical machinery, the sound signal announcing the closing of the doors and the pounding of hurried footsteps, transformed into a cacophony mixing the complaints of disgruntled commuters, the nuisances who came to spoil the lives of travelers and the political disputes.
The video recently made the rounds on social networks: we see a man dragging his victim on the tracks of Ribaucourt station, located in the territory of a sensitive municipality in Brussels. The scene joins other photos that have circulated in recent weeks showing, among other things, individuals selling drugs in full force. All this is only the submerged part of an obscure reality affecting commuters every day.
While the Paris metro stations are marked by a relatively uniform layout (Guimard buildings, white tiles, etc.), their Brussels counterparts stand out for their diversity, including homages to Hergé (at the Stockel terminus with its representations of Tintin characters) , Eddy Merckx (and the hour record bike exhibited in the station bearing the name of the cycling champion) or to the victims of the attack of March 22, 2016 (Maelbeek), paintings (Roger Somville in Hankar, giant fresco representing the Woluwe valley in the Vandervelde station) or fashion photographs (Gare de l’Ouest).
Also read, from the same author: Molenbeek, European capital of culture in 2030?
Another game is now being played. Some stations are now hotspots for drug trafficking where dealers no longer have to hide; in others, the ground is littered with rubbish when it is not actually streaks of urine flowing onto your shoes – you will tell me that this must be universal –; almost everywhere the traveler is bothered by aggressive arrests when he is not the victim of pick-pocketing; we would almost come to forget the little incivilities, the anti-Israeli stickers, the advertisements praising the diversity in which no one believes anymore or the fact that almost no one still gives up their place to an elderly person; At dawn, on several occasions people were found stuck in the mechanical shutters…
In a region that is going down the drain, it is not uncommon for the traveler to be confronted, during the same journey, with the breakdown of the escalator which takes them to the station, with the delay of their metro ( for reasons as diverse as technical problems, intrusion on the tracks, etc.) and the non-functioning of safety gates. And when the latter are in working order, it is common for “colleagues” to rub shoulders with him to free ride (we imagine that this can be even more disturbing for women: hello feminists?). But no problem, according to the Société des Transports Intercommunaux de Bruxelles (STIB), “you have the possibility, if that bothers you, to use the airlock reserved for disabled people”[1]. Few seem to be moved by the cost of fraud: we rarely come across a controller in the Brussels metro and even less in the “hot” stations. Finally, the saga of the extension of the metro, the inauguration of which is constantly postponed, does not fail to add discredit to Brussels decision-makers, between political pressure from environmentalists to move the file forward, unpreparedness of the site and lack of knowledge of the composition of the Brussels subsoil. Above all, the huge budget continues to explode and is today estimated at more than five billion euros. Admit that, without reaction from the protagonists, it will be a high price to pay for the shooting room.
[1] Answer given to me one day by an STIB employee when I was expressing my dissatisfaction!
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