How do tickets to/from SNCB "zones" work?

[AdamWW]

Looking at the SNCB web site, they list various groups of stations as "zones" and say that for a ticket between two zones: "You can get on and off at any station within these 2 zones during the day for which your ticket is valid."

Given that they also seem to be saying that to make a return journey within a zone you should only buy a single ticket, am I correct to conclude that tickets to/from a zone include unlimited travel within each zone for the day of validity (but not between the zones, i.e. it's a bit like a return ticket to London including a travelcard)?

I've seen contradictory information on non-official sites, and I don't find the SNCB wording particularly clear.

Does anyone know?

Having said this, the online journey planner doesn't actually seem to be offering tickets to zones, so I don't know how I'd actually buy a ticket to one.

 

[zero]

When you buy a ticket at a ticket machine (or a ticket office) the origin and/or destinations will be given as zones if your chosen station(s) are in a zone. Should be the same online, but not sure.

I think this means that even after your ticket is clipped by a conductor it remains valid for travel within the zones on the same day. Though it appears counter-intuitive that a ticket could remain valid in the origin zone, even after you've travelled to your destination with no indication of how you travelled back there.

In practice I have never experienced any ticket checks inside a zone, they seem to start after trains depart from the final station in a zone, with the exception of the Brupass XL (though I haven't been to Belgium since this new zone was introduced).

 

[dutchflyer]

Does NOT apply to the biggest zone-Brussel. It has its own-higher-fares, combined with metro/tram/bus of MIVB/STIB and deLIJN/TEC buses.
For an all day enjoyment you need to buy a return.
Google/wiki will quickly deliver the full list of all zones: most are pretty small and consist of only 2 stops-the major and a minor suburban one. Only those of Antwerpen, Gent, Luik=Liége would be interesting for most. But for Liëge there is also a slightly wider area at slightly higher price that got a different name.
ALL stations in a specific ´gemeente/commune´ are classified as being in the same zone.
I think the price applied is simply that of main station in A to ditto in B. So depending on where you board/alight it may mean in some cases you paid too much or too little if one would consult the tariff-table based on the KMs.

 

[AdamWW]

Does NOT apply to the biggest zone-Brussel. It has its own-higher-fares, combined with metro/tram/bus of MIVB/STIB and deLIJN/TEC buses.
For an all day enjoyment you need to buy a return.
Google/wiki will quickly deliver the full list of all zones: most are pretty small and consist of only 2 stops-the major and a minor suburban one. Only those of Antwerpen, Gent, Luik=Liége would be interesting for most. But for Liëge there is also a slightly wider area at slightly higher price that got a different name.
ALL stations in a specific ´gemeente/commune´ are classified as being in the same zone.
I think the price applied is simply that of main station in A to ditto in B. So depending on where you board/alight it may mean in some cases you paid too much or too little if one would consult the tariff-table based on the KMs.

Thanks for that.

It wasn't obvious from the SNCB page I looked at that Brussels is excluded - it mentions that there is no Mortsel zone even though there is interavailability between different Mortsel stations, but the Brussels zone looks like the other ones (albeit larger).

 

[Watershed]

Sorry to drag up and old thread, but as it's related to the same topic - can anyone clarify whether SNCB-issued tickets are valid on De Lijn tram services within the stated origin/destination zone?

For example, when I search for Brussels Airport to a tram stop in Gent, I'm offered a Zone Gent ticket at the same cost as one if I just search to Gent-Sint-Peters. Is this really valid on De Lijn?

 

[rvdborgt]

NMBS/SNCB tickets are only valid in trains or rail replacement buses.

 

[Watershed]

NMBS/SNCB tickets are only valid in trains or rail replacement buses.

Thanks. The journey planner is very misleading in that case...