When does the railway day end in Belgium?

[scragend]

I will be staying in Bruges this coming week and am planning to go over to Ghent on Wednesday evening (31/5) to meet a friend.

I'm planning to catch the 00.09 back from Ghent to Bruges, so just about into the morning of 1st June. Which day do I buy the ticket for - is a 00.09 departure still considered part of the previous day for railway ticketing purposes? (It would be in the UK I think) There is another train at 01.24 but then the next one isn't till 06.35.

The NMBS/SNCB web site allows me to buy a return ticket, but the price is the same whether I choose out and back on the same day or out one day and back the next, and the return price is twice the single, so I'm wondering whether it wouldn't be selling me a return ticket at all, but rather two singles.

 

[AdamWW]

I will be staying in Bruges this coming week and am planning to go over to Ghent on Wednesday evening (31/5) to meet a friend.

I'm planning to catch the 00.09 back from Ghent to Bruges, so just about into the morning of 1st June. Which day do I buy the ticket for - is a 00.09 departure still considered part of the previous day for railway ticketing purposes? (It would be in the UK I think) There is another train at 01.24 but then the next one isn't till 06.35.

The NMBS/SNCB web site allows me to buy a return ticket, but the price is the same whether I choose out and back on the same day or out one day and back the next, and the return price is twice the single, so I'm wondering whether it wouldn't be selling me a return ticket at all, but rather two singles.

I think it will be selling you a return, it's just that the price is the same as two singles (as is usually the case in Europe outside the UK).

Is the return valid only for one day?

By the way at weekends (Friday 7pm to Sunday) returns are half price (i.e. the price of a single).

 

[rvdborgt]

For NMBS, the day ends after their train services have stopped, so that's not at midnight but sometime between 2 and 3 in the morning, when train 545 arrives in Ostend. Tickets are valid until then.

 

[scragend]

For NMBS, the day ends after their train services have stopped, so that's not at midnight but sometime between 2 and 3 in the morning, when train 545 arrives in Ostend. Tickets are valid until then.

Excellent, thanks.

== Doublepost prevention - post automatically merged: 26 May 2023 ==

I think it will be selling you a return, it's just that the price is the same as two singles (as is usually the case in Europe outside the UK).

Is the return valid only for one day?

By the way at weekends (Friday 7pm to Sunday) returns are half price (i.e. the price of a single).

I don't know what the validity of the return is; the web site was asking me to specify a date for each leg so was just wondering what to put for the return. Looks from rvdborgt's reply like I don't have a problem though, and it will all be the "same day".

Unfortunately I won't be there at the weekend.

 

[dutchflyer]

Yes, its after the last train of the ´day´ has gone. Like in DE=Germany where they set it at 3.00a.m. in their usual precisiveness.
BTW: a weekendreturn is not just free return-the ´basic´ charge of about 1,70 or around is still added to the normal price of a single. Also the cheap senior-return cannot be extended for the weekend and is always 1 day-for these rich elderly its double the price!

 

[AdamWW]

BTW: a weekendreturn is not just free return-the ´basic´ charge of about 1,70 or around is still added to the normal price of a single. Also the cheap senior-return cannot be extended for the weekend and is always 1 day-for these rich elderly its double the price!

So it is. I didn't read down to the footnote at the bottom.

Personally I think saying "Half price*" and "50% discount*" and then the footnote saying well actually it's not quite half price is a bit misleading - I'd expect the footnote to be giving exceptions rather than correcting what was said above.

Though unless it's a very short journey the extra €1.2923 (strange precision!) isn't going to make a huge amount of difference.