In Belgium there are different companies of public transportation mostly depending on the region. Be careful, if you are controlled and  don’t have a ticket or if you have forgotten to validate it, you will have to pay an important fine. So, always buy a ticket and validate it.

Subways, tramways & buses

STIB
It’s Brussels public transportation network.
If you have to travel every day with the public transportations, you can get a MOBIB card.
First, ask a school certificate at IHECS. Then go to the BOOTIK-stores in the following metro stations: Porte de Namur, De Brouckère, Rogier, Gare du Midi, Roodebeek, Gare de l’Ouest.
The MOBIB card only costs 5€ but you have to reload it. Give your school certificate and you’ll get a student price (only 50€/year, if you are under 25).
Your abonnement works for every type of transportation (subway, tramway and bus) during an entire year ! Be careful, they are not valid on TEC or De Lijn transportations.
www.stib.be

Pssst, download the STIB App (Apple / Android) which is really useful to check the real time and theoretical timetables.

De Lijn
It’s the public transportation network in Flanders (Dutch speaking part of Belgium). Some of their buses go through Brussels.
www.delijn.be

TEC
It’s the public transportation network in Wallonia (the French speaking part of Belgium). Some of their buses go through Brussels.
www.infotec.be

TRAIN

SNCB
It’s the national railway network in Belgium. The three biggest stations in Brussels serving the whole of Belgium are Gare du Midi, Gare Centrale and Gare du Nord.
It is possible to buy one way or round-trip tickets. If you are under 26 and you are going to travel a lot in Belgium, the easiest solution is to buy a « Go Pass 10 »,
that allows you to do 10 trips all over in Belgium for 52 €. This ticket is valid for a year and isn’t nominative.

« Go Pass » also exists for single travels. It’s called «Go Pass 1» and costs 6,40 €.
www.belgianrail.be

International
You can also get to Paris, Amsterdam and Cologne by Thalys (www.thalys.com) and London by Eurostar (www.eurostar.com)
Thalys has created a new low cost service called IZY to get to Paris.  www.izy.com