Three ticket vending machines at Uttara Metro Rail Station were inoperative since Thursday morning, causing suffering for passengers on the first day of the metro rail operation after its inauguration.
Many people were disappointed after crossing the long queue on the street to get inside.
The authorities are now providing passes from four manual booths, reports Bangla Tribune.
Bangla TribuneOne of the passengers, Md Shaheen said that he had come from Barisal to board the metro rail.
“But when I came to the station, I saw that the ticket machine was not working. Now I am standing in line again,” he says.
Ignoring the biting cold and foggy winter morning, hundreds of Dhaka residents gathered in front of metro rail stations on Thursday to ride for the first time as Bangladesh's first elevated rail service opens its door public.
Bangla TribuneThe latest addition to Dhaka's public transport started its first journey with passengers at 8am in the morning.
Initially, the metro trains will run from 8 am to 12 noon every day from Uttara to Agargaon stations without any stoppage.
It will take 20 minutes to travel the 11.73km distance from Uttara to Agargaon, but soon it will come down to 16-17 minutes.
In the beginning, the trains will not stop at all stations. They will leave the Uttara station and stop at Pallabi, and then they will go to Agargaon without stopping. The stopping of trains at intermediate stations will start later.
Initially, the trains will carry 200 to 250 passengers and later 700 to 800 passengers.
Of the 12 trains ready for operating from Uttara to Agargaon, 10 will run regularly and two will be on standby for any problems.
The metro rail project was taken up in 2012, and a loan agreement in this regard was signed with the Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA), a Japanese development cooperation agency, the following year.
