Eid holidaymakers alleged harassment as the highway bus operators started selling advance tickets for the north and southern district routes yesterday.
People queued for the tickets since morning at Gabtoli bus terminal and the counters at Kallyanpur, Shyamoli, Panthapath and Kalabagan. But many of them alleged that they could not get a ticket after several hours. Brokers and some staff of the bus services already took away those for selling in the black market, the passengers claimed.
The sale of advance tickets is supposed to continue until the day before the Eid-ul-Azha when thousands of people leave Dhaka for their village home.
Meanwhile, even though several bus companies began selling e-tickets, the passengers alleged that they had failed to take the service.
Ticket-seekers in long queues at Gabtoli said that the counters opened at 7:30am, though they were scheduled to start selling tickets from 6am. When people at the counters claimed that they could not provide tickets for September 21 to 23, some other staff were asking for extra amount – in cases, double the original fare – to get one.
Sohel Rana, who will travel to Bogra, was waiting for advance tickets at Kalyanpur since 5:30am. He was not sure whether he would get a ticket. “Usually the fare is Tk350-400. But just before this Eid the bus operators set the fare at Tk600, and now some agents are demanding TK800,” Sohel said.
Farhan of Gopalganj alleged that the people of his district were harassed by the two bus operators on Dhaka-Gopalganj route – Palash and Comfort Line – as they always prevent other operators from introducing new services.
He said that the two services were not comfortable but they charge like luxurious buses.
Bangladesh Bus-Truck Owners’ Association President Faruk Talukder Sohel denied the allegations of charging extra fare.
“Generally the bus operators charge the passengers less than what the BRTA fare chart shows, and they follow the chart during the Eid. For this reason, most of the passengers think that the bus operators charge extra fare during the Eid,” he told the Dhaka Tribune.
The BRTA has set Tk1.45 per kilometre for all the highways, and made it mandatory for the operators to display the chart.
Meanwhile, advance tickets at Sayedabad and Mohakhali bus terminals will be available from today. State-run Bangladesh Road Transport Corporation (BRTC) will start selling tickets from September 16.
The railway authorities are set to begin selling advance tickets from September 15 at Kamalapur and Chittagong railway stations.