Used Metrostation Opera to get in and out of the historical Antwerp district from the Diamond district the other day and it was a quick and easy way to get around the walkable city of Antwerp.
To my surprise, such a small city has a tram! The tram is a combination of both over-ground along with underground.
Metrostation Opera is underground. There are bi-folding doors that open automatically by a proximity sensor. The escalators to get downstairs are also have proxmity sensors. Some of the escalators have either a red or green stripe on the ground where the green indicates ok to enter (and red indicating wrong way) ...took me a while to realize.
The routes along with stations are marked throughout the station although Google Maps includes both the origin along with destination, which caused me to go the wrong direction on numerous occasions!
The Metro is paid for via NFC card and there's a device for one to tap their Metro card or NFC card by some of the doors. (Automated ticket stations are few and far in between in Antwerp)
Metro is 2 Euro 50 per ride and each ride is good for 60 minutes. Boarding can be on any door! read more