With around a fortnight left to the eve of Eid-ul-Fitr, advance sales of district bound bus tickets started on Friday to ease the suffering of passengers going home for Eid.
According to the pre-announcement, the counters were selling tickets for August 5-8, starting in the morning and all tickets were sold out by the end of day. A single person was allowed to purchase a maximum of three tickets, however for some, the rule was seen to be relaxed, as seen after visiting a number of bus terminals in the city.
City dwellers were seen standing in long queues in front of ticket counters at Gabtoli, Shyamoli, Syedabad, Mohakhali, and some roadside counters in different areas of the city. Although employees of bus companies only opened their counters at Gabtoli bus terminal at around 8:30am, a large number of people had been waiting in line from early morning, following sehri.
The queue in front of the SR Paribahan counter looked like a 200m-long reptile, and as the counter opened, the mob rushed to get tickets. Likewise, the scene at other counters was eerily similar, as people from all walks of life, fought for a ticket which would let them spend the eid vacation with their near and dear ones in their respective hometowns.
Rownok Jahan Koli, who came with her younger brother from Mirpur, said: “Only those people who choose to go to their hometowns during Eid can understand the pain of waiting long hours in front of ticket counters, but this pain will be forgotten after the desired ticket is obtained, as the joy of being able to meet loved ones during Eid is so much.”
Some people waiting in line in front of Sakura Paribahan counter alleged that the staff was charging extra money for advance tickets. However, the staff rejected the allegations brought against them. Allegations were also brought up against bus counters in Shyamoli areas. Ticket seekers alleged that the counter staff misled them.
Rayhan Abdullah, who was standing in front of Desh Travel’s counter, said: “The staff at the counter did not inform us anything in the morning, rather after waiting for one and a half hour they told us to go the counters in Kalyanpur to collect tickets.”
“If we rush there now, we would be unable to get tickets as there will already be a long queue that would have been waiting since 6am,” he said.
A Gaibandha bound passenger alleged that he was charged an extra Tk50 for a ticket worth Tk480 on Thursday.
However, scrapping all the allegations, a counterman of Sapnil Paribahan, Mizan, claimed that during regular times the tickets are sold at a lower price than the rate fixed by the government, and during Eid the right price is charged.
A passenger of AK Travels, told the Dhaka Tribune: “I was charged Tk650 for a ticket of Tk500, and for the luxurious AC buses, the ticket rate boosts from Tk950 to Tk1,250.”
The picture at Syedabad bus terminal was slightly different as most of the counters were not selling advance tickets. They claimed that the turnout of passengers was still low and they would start selling tickets three or four days ahead of Eid.
A number of bus services like Unique that runs Dhaka-Sylhet-Cox’s Bazar and Rangamati-Bandarban routes started selling tickets, however, S Alam, Soudia, Star Line, and Ekushe, are yet to start selling tickets for those routes. They claimed that passengers usually keep the train service as their first choice and come to buy the bus tickets if train tickets are unavailable.