Brussels Car-Free Sunday Celebrates 50 Years of the Metro With Historic Ride, Art and Free Transit

Brussels will turn its metro network into a citywide museum for car-free Sunday, marking 50 years since the capital’s first metro journey. On Sept. 20, visitors will be able to walk, cycle or skate through a city without traffic and explore artworks displayed in stations.

The anniversary’s centerpiece will be a historic ride from the Delta depot to De Brouckère. It will retrace, in the opposite direction, the journey that King Baudouin took to officially open the metro five decades ago. The Delta and Brel depots will also open to the public, offering a behind-the-scenes look at the transport system.

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It was fantastic then. And the metro has grown into the city’s most structuring means of transport.

Public transport will be free across Brussels that day, and the Brussels Intercommunal Transport Company, or STIB, will increase service. STIB chief executive Brieuc de Meeûs remembers taking the metro for pleasure as a 15-year-old when it opened. “It was fantastic then. And the metro has grown into the city’s most structuring means of transport,” he said.

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Discussions about budgets and routes have always existed, including in the 1970s. They are part of the normal evolution of metro projects. Building a metro takes time.

The system has expanded from 16 stations to 69. Work on the new Metro 3 line has been paused for budgetary reasons, but de Meeûs said debates over budgets and routes have always accompanied metro projects. “Discussions about budgets and routes have always existed, including in the 1970s. They are part of the normal evolution of metro projects. Building a metro takes time,” he said.

Mobility Minister Elke Van den Brandt said the government would continue investing in the network. Older orange trains are gradually being replaced, while authorities are funding station safety and cleanliness. Existing construction sites will be completed, and tram service will operate in the meantime. From 2027, Brussels will hold two car-free Sundays each year, adding a second edition in May.

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The old orange metro trains are gradually all being replaced by new, modern vehicles. In addition, investments are being made in the safety and cleanliness of the stations.