There is no let-up in miseries experienced by homebound passengers seeking tickets for inter-district buses and trains ahead of Eid ul-Azha.
A continuous drizzle throughout the day on Friday left the merging crowds in front of bus and train ticket counters to suffer in long queues.
Sale of advance tickets that started from September 30 saw a tremendous pressure of expected holidaymakers in front of ticket counters at Gabtoli, Kalyanpur, Motijheel, Syedabad and Mohakhali bus stations.
There were also long queues at Kamalapur Railway Station.
The counter masters of inter-district bus companies said almost 85% of their advance tickets had been sold out.
Only the bus companies at Syedabad bus terminal are yet to release their advance tickets for the upcoming Eid and Durga Puja. Eid ul-Azha will be celebrated on October 16 while Durga Puja between October 10 and 14.
Rush for Bus Tickets
This year holidaymakers seemed to have chosen to travel by roads rather than rail or waterways.
The demand for tickets is higher because of the upcoming Eid ul-Azha and Durga Puja going to be celebrated concurrently.
A good number of crowds were seen standing in queues in front bus counters braving rain on Friday, but the crowds became thin as the day approached.
Around 11:30am at Gabtoli bus terminal in front of Eagle Paribahan’s Khulna-Jessore counter, a private company employee Hasanur Rahman John said he came here around 6:00am fearing crowd.
“Normally, we do not get a long vacation to go home except two Eid festivals. So, I don’t want to lose the opportunity,” said Hasanur, a ticket seeker of Khulna route. But the bus staff were not happy with the thin presence of crowd.
“The number of ticket seekers is smaller than Thursday. I think many passengers are waiting for the rain to stop,” said counter master Bappi of Darshona Deluxe on Mazar road of Mirpur.
“We have reserved some tickets for the last hours’ rush,” he added.
Meanwhile, a number of passengers who have already started leaving the city alleged that the bus companies were falling behind schedule though the major rush of passengers was yet to begin.
Hanif Paribahan Counter master Sanjib Kumar Ghosh, however said, buses were late to arrive at the destination as the roads became slippery due to rain.
Meanwhile, Bangladesh Road Transport Corporation has already announced its special bus service ahead of Eid to meet passengers rush.
It will also run another 500 buses for different routes across the country as regular services.
In a press release, BRTC said it would kick off special service from October 12 and continue till three days after Eid.
The tickets will be on sale from October 10 from bus depots.
The buses will start journey from Motijheel, Joar Sahara, Kalyanpur and Mirpur 12, Fulbaria, Gabtoli, Mohakhali, Airport and Cantonment bus stations.
A help desk will be opened in this connection. Commuters can call at 9564361 and 9333803 for information and assistance.
Rush for Train Tickets
Many ticket seekers came to the Kamalapur Train Station before sunrise.
Tickets of normal compartments were available, but those of Air-Conditioned and first class compartments were not easily collectable.
There were also allegations of selling tickets on black market.
“Though the sale started from 9am, I arrived here before 6am almost drenched. After a couple of hours the authorities said the first class tickets were sold out,” said Md Tamjid Hossain hailing from Jatrabari.
Netrokona-bound train ticket seeker Monirul Islam echoed the same with Tamjid.
He said he waited from early morning and stood after two people at the front of the queue.