Sale of advance bus tickets starts

FE Report | Published: July 15, 2014 00:00:00 | Updated: November 30, 2026 06:01:00

Sale of advance bus tickets for the home-goers to celebrate the Eid-ul-Fitr festival with their near and dear ones began in the city Monday amid the law-enforcement agencies' tight security arrangements.
The ticket-seekers, however, gathered at bus counters run by private operators on Sunday night, a day before beginning of the official sale of advance tickets.
Tickets for July 24, 25 and 27 are most wanted. The fare of bus tickets has been fixed as it was in the previous year - Tk 50 more per ticket than the usual price, the private bus operators said.
Bus owners have fixed the fare and date for collecting advance bus tickets for north-western and southern districts.
Passengers of 16 districts of Rangpur and Rajshahi divisions and 10 districts of Jessore and Khulna regions have to face fresh fare hike ahead of the biggest Muslim festival.
The fare has been fixed at Tk 500 (Sirajganj) to Tk 750-800 (Chapainawabganj-Panchagarh) for the north-western districts, while Tk 600 (Satkkhira) to Tk 700 (Bagerhat) for the southern districts, officials of Hanif Paribahan, Nabil Paribahan, SR Paribahan, Shohag Paribahan and Shyamoli Paribahan said.
Md Shafiqul Islam Belal, a private bank employee, was seen bargaining with a counter manager at Shyamoly Paribahan counter in Kalyanpur on Monday morning.
He got two tickets for July 27 against his requirement of four for his family to go to Pabna.
"I've come here after Sehri and secured 70-72th position at the queue. When my serial came at 11 am, there were only two tickets left for July 27," he said.
However, the bus operators that the FE interviewed expressed their worries over maintaining the trip schedules, as traffic management on and situation of the highways remain as deplorable as were in the previous year.
However, the ministry of communication assigned special vigilance teams at the city's bus terminals to control any unethical practice, especially to combat black marketing and realisation of additional fare, a senior official of the ministry said.
Following the big rush of people at the ticket outlets, the country's law-enforcement agencies also have taken various measures.
According to the Dhaka Metropolitan Police (DMP), additional law-enforcers have been deployed around the ticket counters in the capital to ensure security of the home-goers.
At the same time, a number of police patrol teams as well as Rapid Action Battalion (RAB) teams have been positioned around the bus terminals and ticket counters, where homebound people have thronged for collecting advance tickets for Eid celebration.
DMP Deputy Commissioner Masudur Rahman said CCTVs (close circuit cameras) have also been installed at the bus and railway terminals to keep close eyes on the troublemakers ahead of the festival.
Meanwhile, sale of advance tickets for train and state-run BRTC buses will begin on July 20.
According to Bangladesh Railway (BR), Bangladesh Road Transport Corporation (BRTC), Bangladesh Bus-Truck Owners Association, Bangladesh Inland Water Transport Authority (BIWTA) and Biman Bangladesh Airlines, approximately 2.5 million people leave Dhaka per day on normal days.
Of the total number of people, some 2.3 million travel through buses, 0.15 million through waterways, 0.06 million through trains, and 7,000-8,000 through airways.
But the number of passengers normally goes up by more than three times during festivals, putting serious pressure on the operators to handle.