Braving an overcast sky and rain, thousands thronged different bus outlets on Friday morning to buy tickets to return to their rural roots during Eid-ul-Azha.
As it was a weekly holiday, the crowd of ticket seekers was comparatively higher, said bus operators.
Advance ticket sales for August 08 and 09 for Rangpur, Dinajpur, Rajshahi, Bogura, Pabna, Kushtia, Khulna, Jashore and Faridpur began at 5:30 am.
But the ticket sold out just in hours, claimed many seekers of the most-sought-after travel documents.
Even online ticket sales frustrated hundreds who remained stuck in an unprecedented traffic for a higher volume of simultaneous users of many ticketing apps.
Visiting counters of Hanif Enterprise, SR Travels, Nabil Paribahan, Shyamoli Paribahan at Kalyanpur and Gabtoli on Friday morning, the FE found hundreds in queues to buy their desired tickets.
The feast of sacrifice might be observed on the second week of the next month (August 11-13 tentatively) and August 08 (Thursday) might be the last office day.
"I've come to Nabil counter at 5:00 am and my serial in the queue was 60 to 65 men before the outlet, but I didn't get AC coach tickets for August 08," banker Arifur Rahman Mithu said.
The counter manager at 8:30 am declared that all AC tickets of August 08 for Nilphamari sold out, he added.
One Kamal Hossain went to Gabtoli counter of Hanif Enterprise, at 6:00 am. His serial was 120 men ahead of the outlet.
He needed four tickets for his family to go to Thakurgaon for August 09 morning but got only two.
Many shared their online ordeal of buying tickets with the FE.
Abrar Hossain Joky, a Bangla College student, tried to enter Sohoz.com website through app since 5:30 am but only succeeded in his attempt at 9:00 am.
The website showed all tickets for August 08, 09 and 10 of Nabil, Agomony and SR Travels for Dinajpur sold out.
Nabil Paribahan manager Shafiqe said demand is much higher than the availability of tickets of some 30 quality bus operators.
Nabil will provide 10 to 12 buses a day ahead of Eid for Rangpur with a capacity of 400-480 persons, but more than 10,000 were searching for tickets, he added.
However, the prices of tickets for August 05 to August 11 rose as they were being counted as advance tickets.
Fares of non-AC buses have been increased by Tk 100 (Rangpur) to Tk 200 (Panchagarh) and that of AC buses by Tk 250-1,000 per ticket.
tonmoy.wardad@gmail.com