MOBIB, also written as MoBIB, is a

contactless smart card A contactless smart card is a contactless credential whose dimensions are credit card size. Its embedded integrated circuits can store (and sometimes process) data and communicate with a terminal via NFC. Commonplace uses include transit ticket ...

used as an

integrated ticketing Integrated ticketing enables a journey involving transfers within or between different modes of transportation using a single ticket that is valid for the entire journey. These modes include buses, trains, subways, and ferries, among others. The ...

system for 'travel products' of most

public transport Public transport (also known as public transit, mass transit, or simply transit) are forms of transport available to the general public. It typically uses a fixed schedule, route and charges a fixed fare. There is no rigid definition of whic ...

in the

Belgium Belgium, officially the Kingdom of Belgium, is a country in Northwestern Europe. Situated in a coastal lowland region known as the Low Countries, it is bordered by the Netherlands to the north, Germany to the east, Luxembourg to the southeas ...

. First introduced by Brussels'

MIVB The Brussels Intercommunal Transport Company ( or ; or ) is the local public transport operator in Brussels, Belgium. It is usually referred to in English by the double acronym STIB/MIVB, or by its French acronym, STIB. STIB/MIVB is responsi ...

in 2008, it has since has expanded to include the public transport operators

NMBS The National Railway Company of Belgium (, NMBS; , SNCB; ) is the national railway company of Belgium. The company formally styles itself using the Dutch and French abbreviations NMBS/SNCB. The corporate logo designed in 1936 by Henry van de V ...

De Lijn Vlaamse Vervoersmaatschappij De Lijn (, ), more commonly known as De Lijn, is a state-owned enterprise run by the Flemish government in Belgium to provide public transport with about 2240 buses and 399 trams. De Lijn was founded in 1991 after the ...

, and TEC. Each operator issues a MOBIB card with a unique design, but it can be used with all four operators. Transport tickets are usually specific to each operator, though some subscriptions, such as 'Brupass' and 'Brupass XL', are valid across multiple operators. The card contains a

near-field communication Near-field communication (NFC) is a set of communication protocols that enables communication between two electronic devices over a distance of or less. NFC offers a low-speed connection through a simple setup that can be used for the boots ...

(NFC) tag and is compatible with the ''

ISO 7816 ISO/IEC 7816 is an international standard related to electronic identification cards with contacts, especially smart cards, and more recently, contactless mobile devices, managed jointly by the International Organization for Standardization (ISO) ...

'' contact interface. It can store up to eight tickets, including single trips, multi-trip passes, and subscriptions. Additionally, bicycle-sharing (like

Villo! Villo! (a portmanteau of the French words ("city") and ("bicycle")) is a public bicycle rental programme in Brussels-Capital Region, Belgium. It was launched on 19 May 2009 in cooperation between the Brussels-Capital region and the company ...

and Blue-Bike),

car-sharing Carsharing or car sharing (AU, NZ, CA, TH, & US) or car clubs (UK) is a model of car rental where people rent cars for short periods of time, often by the hour. It differs from traditional car rental in that the owners of the cars are often pri ...

(such as Cambio), and station parking subscriptions can also be loaded onto the card. Unlike the Dutch

OV-chipkaart The OV-chipkaart (, short for ''openbaar vervoer chipkaart'' , meaning ''public transport chipcard'') is a contactless smart card and integrated ticketing system used for all public transport in the Netherlands. First introduced in the Rotterda ...

, the MOBIB card is not a

stored-value card A stored-value card (SVC) or cash card is a payment card with a monetary value stored on the card itself, not in an external account maintained by a financial institution. This means no network access is required by the payment collection termi ...

and therefore does not support loading a monetary balance. For all journeys, a pre-purchased ticket, specific to the trip, must be loaded onto the card. The card can be held a few centimeters away from the reader and uses the Calypso standard, similar to the French

Navigo card The Navigo card () is a contactless smart card used to travel on public transport in Paris and Île-de-France. The card is based on the Calypso (electronic ticketing system), Calypso standard, initially implemented with Radio-frequency identifica ...

. With an NFC-enabled smartphone and the MOBIB app, users can check the card's contents. This can also be done via the info button on validation devices, at ticket machines, or at service counters.

References

{{Transport in Belgium Public transport in Belgium Fare collection systems Contactless smart cards