Several hundred people lined up in front of the counters at Gabtoli bus terminal and those in Kalyanpur, Shyamoli, Panthapath and Kalabagan areas on Friday, several hours before they started selling advance tickets centring the festive Eid-ul-Azha.
But within two to three hours, staff at the counters claimed that all the tickets for September 21, 22 and 23 had already been sold out. Such announcements came as a shock for many home-bound people, though the reality was different.
Some brokers allegedly staff of those bus services were seen moving around the ticket-seekers and offering tickets for any date before the Eid, scheduled to be held on September 24, in exchange for bribe – dubbed as “Eid tips” which was as high as Tk400.
Many desperate passengers gave in while others left the counters with a broken heart accepting that they would have to take a crowded bus. Some others went for other options – train or launch.
No government representative or law enforcers were deployed at Gabtoli terminal and the counters to check irregularities on Friday, though the road transport and bridges minister had warned the owners of stern action for such acts.
Yesterday the operators at Sayedabad and Mohakhali inter-district bus terminals started selling advance tickets, and the ticket-seekers were harassed, as usual. The staff at the counters stopped selling tickets for the northern districts after several hours claiming that the tickets were oversubscribed.
When contacted, a senior government official said that they had already received some allegations of charging higher than the fixed fare chart.
“We have called a meeting of the taskforce, formed to check bus fare ahead of Eid, on Monday. We will sit with the stakeholders to decide action against the operators who are charging extra amount from the passengers,” said Md Kaikobad Hossain, chief of the taskforce.
Also executive engineer of the Dhaka Transport Coordination Authority, Kaikobad said that the minister, Obaidul Quader, had earlier asked the operators not to violate his directives. But the owners paid no heed.