The health crisis has had an impact on the activity and operation of many companies. STIB is no exception to the rule. In 2020, the overall financial impact of the COVID-19 crisis amounted to € 102 million. While STIB recorded a drop in revenue, it also had to deal with an increase in expenditure, particularly following the purchase of sanitary equipment and the increased cleaning of its vehicles and infrastructure.

Despite this difficult context, STIB has stayed on course. The public transport sector was considered essential in the midst of the crisis and remains so today more than ever. This bodes well for STIB's future. This is reflected in the investments planned for 2021: € 1.418 billion allocated by the Brussels Region for mobility, including € 945 million for STIB.

STIB is investing not only in work to extend and improve its transport services, but also in maintaining its existing infrastructures. There were several worksites to update tram lines in 2020.

This work was essential to ensure that the network remains safe. Current laying techniques - rubber coated rails laid on floating slab - also improve comfort for local residents when the trams pass through. This work was also an opportunity to improve the flow of public transport and enhance the surrounding public spaces through a complete redevelopment of the area.

With the arrival of new vehicles, STIB needs to adapt its storage and maintenance facilities and build new depots.

In Anderlecht, the development of the "Petite Ile" bus depot (transformation of the offices, enlargement of the garage area and construction of an interior depot) is being finalised.

While one part of the Erasme depot is still under construction, the other part has become operational. On the night of 30 to 31 August 2020, phase 1 of the preliminary storage facility was commissioned, with the arrival of 3 Boa trains. This allowed STIB to free up space in Delta for the new M7 metro trains, which are being tested on the test track and on the network.

On the Haren site, the Maintenance Center (centralised maintenance workshop) became a reality in 2020, with the arrival of the technical teams from Petite Ile and the historical workshops in Belgrade, Cureghem and Birmingham.

The station renovation programme continued in 2020 with the completion of the renovation of the De Brouckère metro section. Brussels Mobility and STIB integrated eco-construction aspects into every stage of the De Brouckère station renovation, from the design of the renovation project to the commissioning of the station. STIB chose to include the project in a BREEAM environmental certification process, a first for a metro station. This includes energy aspects (LED, natural light, energy savings), water management (avoiding overconsumption, detecting leaks), choice of non-polluting materials, etc.

2020 also saw the start of the renovation of Parc station, which will be made accessible to people with reduced mobility. Work to improve accessibility also continued at Clemenceau, Porte de Hal, Roodebeek, and Arts-Loi stations.

The start of the ambitious Gare Centrale renovation project is scheduled for the end of 2021.