In message
, at
00:52:28 on Sat, 7 May 2011, solar penguin
remarked:
You look up transport fares in advance. Yes, that is a sample of one,
and you can't extrapolate from it to claim that "most people" do
this. The most you can conclude is that it is _possible_ for people
to look up transport fares in advance.

But even if you do, it can be difficult to take in all the wrinkles.

I've visited Brussels more times than I can recall, and always buy
"Jump" tickets for the metro. I've looked at the website quite a few
times as well. And only last year did I realise you can use those
tickets on the Belgium 'National Rail' services within the city, as well
as the metro etc.

Indeed, if you look at this page: http://www.brussels.info/transport/
while it says the ticket is valid on all "inner city transport", it goes
on to say [only] that the ticket's valid on "bus, metro or tram or a
combination". The paragraph on buses says the ticket can be used on
"metro and trams as well". (No mention of trains).

And the statement that "public transport is made up of metro lines,
train lines, buses and trams" doesn't unambiguously include trains in
the jump ticket, and the final paragraph about trains only talks about
inter-city ticketing.

In fact, now I've typed all that, I could be excused if having doubts it
really does include inner-city trains!

But buried elsewhere is:

"[allows] journeys on the entire public transport network of STIB trams,
busses, trains and the underground until the end of service (except for
the NATO-Brussels Airport section of lines 12 and 21). It is also valid
on the networks of DE LIJN and TEC and SNCB in Brussels."

And that's a site with a very good English-language rendition of its
rules. I never did find anything as useful for Lisbon, so reluctantly
used taxis instead.
--
Roland Perry