Advance bus tickets sold out in four hours

FE Report

Advance bus tickets for July 15 and 16 were sold out just within four hours of launching the sale early in the morning on Friday, ticket aspirants and private bus operators said.

Tickets for buses bound for northern and southern regions are sold in advance ahead of festivals like Eid-ul-Fitr to avoid any rush for tickets and any untoward incident.

However, following objections from hundreds of passengers and the Bangladesh Road Transport Authority (BRTA), some bus owners changed their earlier decision of selling the bulk of their tickets online.

SR Paribahan and Nabil Paribahan, two major northern region-bound bus operators, rescinded their earlier decision and released 70 per cent of their tickets for sale at counters, said officials concerned.

However, the sale of tickets started at different bus counters between 5:00 am and 7:00 am.

Tickets for July 14, 15 and 16, they said, were the most sought-after ones, as the Eid is going to be celebrated on July18 or 19.

Ticket aspirants complained that counter managers declared all tickets for those particular days sold out by 11 am.

While visiting bus counters, including those of Hanif, Nabil, SR, Shyamoli, Eagle and Shohag at Kalabagan, College Gate, Shyamoli, Kalyanpur, Technical and Gabtoli the FE correspondent found hundreds of frustrated ticket-seekers who failed to get any.

Md Faizul Hasan Shawon, who is now taking preparation for his university admission test, stood at the Nabil Paribahan's counter at Majar Road, Gabtoli, at 6:00 am.

Shawon needed three tickets of Nilphamari for July16. "My turn came at 10.30 am and the counter manager told me that only one ticket was available for July 16," he said.

Tahmina Akhter, a garment worker, told the FE that their factory would be closed on July16.

"I had planned to leave Dhaka on Thursday (July16) night for Kurigram in the morning on July 17," she said.

"But I had to purchase a ticket for Friday night as there was no ticket left for me at 11 am, when I could reach the counter manager,"  she said.

Md Shafiq, manager of northern region-bound Nabil Paribahan, told the FE that his company released 70 per cent of the tickets at the counter and 30 per cent online.

He admitted that they backtracked from their earlier decision of selling the bulk of tickets online after complaints by regular passengers and also a veto by the BRTA.

However, when asked about non-availability of tickets for some particular days, counter manager of Hanif Paribahan at Shyamoli Md Anisur Rahman told the FE that most of the ticket seekers had gone there targeting tickets for July14, 15 and 16.

President of Bangladesh Bus Truck Owners Association (BBTOA) Faruqe Talukder told the FE that advance ticket sale would continue for some more days depending on availability.

He said the association had taken several measures to avoid any mismanagement in ticket sale. "The law enforcement agencies are also helping us maintain a sound ticketing system," he said.

However, prices of Eid tickets remained unchanged compared to that of last Eid, according to private bus operators.

But ticket seekers said the prices were Tk 50 to 150 higher per ticket for different routes than the rates of tickets for normal days.

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