Local Public Transit (the TEC)

In Wallonia, the local public transit is referred to as the "TEC".

photo: Aron de Jong

If the TEC is running, it will probably be running on time, and will do a satisfactory job of taking you where you were hoping to go.  If you are an "English-only" visitor to Liège, you will be able to use the TEC website to determine how to get from point A to point B using the "Itineraries" tab.

A single fare in Liège is €1.60.  We recommend that if you are planning to take several trips that you purchase either a single-day pass (unlimited trips in one day for €3.20), a three-day pass (unlimited trips over three consecutive days for €6.40).  The same sort of unlimited-travel pass is also available to cover trips anywhere in the Walloon region, with the single-day ticket costing €7.00 and the 3-day ticket €14.00

One problem with the TEC however, is that if you are an "English only" user you might not know when they are on strike.

illustration: Stephan Pire

In theory, the TEC is supposed to run every day of the year, starting around 5am and finishing around midnight daily.  The problem is that the TEC often go on strike here in Liège.  In the past 6 months, Liège has seen 7 TEC strikes, many of them lasting more than one day, and several being illegal strikes without advance notice to the public (who rely on them to get to and from work and school, among other things!)

It is not an easy bit of information to find on the TEC website even in French, to see if there is a strike.  If you're using the English version of the site, you'll simply see "under construction" on the page where this information should be present.  So, how to find out if the buses are running?  One must select the "Group TEC" tab on the site, and then choose the appropriate sub-tabs of "votre TEC régional" and then "TEC Liège-Verviers" to see about any service disruptions.  (To my English mind it seems a little like the administrations embarrassment; tucking this important information away in the corner like that.)  If you're on your own and don't speak French, click the link we've posted just above, and look for the words "grève" (strike) or "perturbations de reseau" (disruptions to service), while hoping the site has been updated quickly to reflect the strike, particularly if it is of the impromptu variety.

We'd like to take this moment to point out to the TEC (as clearly they have someone who handles their English communications,) that this sort of thing can ruin a tourists experience of Liège.  It's not just that visitors to the city can't get around so easily, but there is also the greater potential that a transit strike could cause someone to miss their train or plane, putting in absolute disarray their return home, their flight connections, or their hotel reservations elsewhere.  It does no good for business in Liège either if people can't get to their meetings and conferences on time, and in the end it does little good for the TEC, since every day the busses don't move, thousands of dollars in revenue for the TEC itself are lost.

As you may have guessed, Tchantches and I are not fans of the TEC.

I was ok with them until they stopped working.  Tchantches informs me that though it is particularly ridiculous right now, the TEC has been disfunctional for as long as he can remember.

We feel strikes like these are not only pointless, but that it's extremely disrespectful to the inhabitants of Liège, the visitors to the city, and the businesses that power its economy that such internal troubles in the TEC organization are publicly aired in a way that hurts the rest of the city.  Commentary in local newspapers show that much of the population in and around Liège is quite upset with the situation.

We rate the TEC to be a poor-value service, as its primary function is to have the buses rolling, with regularity, and on time.  Clearly, regularity of service is a concern.  We'd love to suggest that the TEC do what many other transit systems of the world do when expressing grievances with their management: strike by refusing to collect riders fares.  This is a tactic that I'd assume draws much more concern from management than the tactic of holding the public hostage.  The public is more likely to support you in your labour action if you don't anger them by mucking up their work/school lives or travels.

If the TEC functioned as it ought to, which is to say daily, with minimal disruptions in service for good reason (such as heavy snow,) we would say it was ordinary and satisfactory, as transit systems go.  But for the time-being it isn't, and so we feel it fair to warn you.  Due to all the disruptions in service over the past months, we've taken quite a shine to using our bikes or a car when needed, and we recommend that when coming to Liège you have a "plan B" tucked up your sleeve, too, just in case.  By doing this you can assure yourself a "bon voyage".