WikiProject Belgium/Conventions/Bus and tram lines
| WikiProject Belgium +/- | ||
| Conventions | ||
| Subprojects | ||
See also
WikiProject Belgium/Conventions/Bus stops
Naming
Two schemes are currently found.
A Belgian-style scheme was introduced around 2011, to name route relations as such:
<operator> <route number> <from> - <to>
Example: "TEC 16 Mons - Herchies"
Example: "STIB/MIVB 50 Gare du Midi/Zuidstation - Lot"
This has the advantage to easily identify routes per operator, especially in territories close to borders, where several operators are providing service, sometimes with the same route number.
As of 2023, there is a gradual move towards the standard naming scheme used in neighbouring countries, with the following syntax:
<vehicle> <route number>: <from> → <to>
Example: "Bus 60: Kortrijk → Roeselare"
Replace "Bus" with "Tram" or "Metro" if necessary. If "→" is hard to type on a standard keyboard, the "=>" text string can be used too.
Bus lines
Tagging
Please read Buses first.
Create a type=route_master relation containing (at least) two separate type=route relations to describe the line, one for each direction the route follows and other variations.
All the stops are grouped before the ways in the order the bus/tram passes them. They get a role 'platform'.
Example:
- Master relation line 555 Brussels-Antwerp
- First relation, the route from Brussels to Antwerp (bus 555 to ANTWERP) ref= 555
- Second relation, the route from Antwerp to Brussels (bus 555 to BRUSSELS) ref = 555
see also example bus 7, 8 and 9
| Key | Value | Description |
|---|---|---|
type |
route |
relation |
route |
bus |
kind of relation |
from |
text | starting point |
to |
text | destination |
via |
text | optional |
ref |
number | line number |
colour |
text | line colour (HTML named color or web color in hexadecimal format) |
text_colour |
text | line text colour (HTML named color or web color in hexadecimal format) |
line |
bus |
indicates a bus line or trolley bus line |
bus |
express / long_distance / on_demand / regular / school / shopping / shuttle / train_replacement / urban |
Special-purpose bus lines |
service |
busway / feeder / night / peak / weekend |
Bus lines with particular frequency |
nat_ref |
number or text | national line number (in discussion) |
name |
text | operator, number, direction (from - to) |
by_night |
yes / no / only |
service by night? |
on_demand |
yes / no / only |
service on demand? |
operator |
text | operating transportation company |
| on bus_stop Dalemhof nr 33017 | on bus_stop Dalemhof nr 33018 |
|---|---|
| 7 Bierbeek - De Borre via Sint-Kamillus | 7 Bertem - Rond Punt via Egenhoven |
| 8 Bierbeek - De Borre via Bremt | 8 Bertem - Rond Punt via Egenhoven |
| 9 Korbeek-lo Pimberg | 9 Bertem - Rond Punt via Egenhoven |
Special types of buses
Express lines (fast service)
These routes are tagged with bus=express.
TEC calls these « lignes Express »; they have route identifiers starting with an E. De Lijn calls them “snelbussen”, route numbers start with an X (unless the line only runs during rush hours, in which case the line number will have 3 digits and the route should have colour=#FFFFFF and text_colour=#C5AA77). STIB/MIVB only has a single express line: bus 12, connecting Brussels Airport to the city.
School buses
These routes are tagged with bus=school. Note that for De Lijn, in theory all school routes should have colour=#FFFFFF and text_colour=#C5AA77, however, this should be verified for every route as the colours are not fully consistent.
Market buses
These routes don't require specific tagging, but as for school buses, do note that for De Lijn, these routes should theoretically have colour=#FFFFFF and text_colour=#C5AA77, but again, this isn't consistent across the network.
Night buses
In Brussels, STIB/MIVB operates night lines as the “Noctis” network. Currently, there are 11 lines, all of which have Gare Centrale/Centraal Station as one of the termini. See the relevant article on the STIB/MIVB website for more information.
De Lijn operates night buses in three cities: Ghent, Leuven and Brussels. In Ghent, there are no specific night lines; the night network is integrated into the timetable of daytime lines (see the relevant page on the De Lijn website for details). The night network in Leuven consists of 8 lines, numbered N1 to N8. They do not correspond to daytime line numbers. De Lijn also operates a single night line in Brussels: line N62, connecting Brussels Airport to the metro terminus Erasme/Erasmus in Anderlecht.
De Lijn flex
“Flex buses” are operated by De Lijn in most regions of Flanders and replaced the previous on-demand buses (“belbussen”) since January 2024. They do not follow routes; rather, one can book a ride from any “flex stop” to another one. Booking is done via the Hoppin app or website, or via phone. A thorough discussion of how De Lijn flex works is out of the scope of this page, however; please see the relevant page on the De Lijn website for details.
Where the pre-2024 “belbus” system had numbered zones, De Lijn flex does not; rather, the operating area of De Lijn (roughly corresponding to the Flemish Region) is divided in flex zones (“flexgebieden”) that are not identified by numbers. While the tagging of flex stops has never been properly discussed (apart from this forum thread about changes to the De Lijn network), a de facto tagging scheme is in use: simply treating “Flex” as if it were a line identifier. For example, Knokke Lippenslaan is tagged with route_ref:De_Lijn=41;Flex.
De Lijn “feestbussen”
De Lijn operates “feestbussen” (lit. “party buses”) on the night of December 31 to January 1. Their routes usually correspond to (sections of) regular routes; the line number is usually that of the regular line prefixed with an F. As they are not fully permanent (the areas served can differ from year to year) and don't have their own routes, they're not mapped on OSM.
Tram lines
| Tags | Description |
|---|---|
|
type=route |
Metro lines
| Tags | Description |
|---|---|
Since the stops are ordered in the relation, it is obvious which is the first and which is the terminus.