Many of the homebound people have started leaving the city for their village homes to observe the Eid ul-Fitr "“ the biggest Muslim religious festival "“ with their near and dear ones.
Students, family members of government, semi-government and private employees in the capital were seen departing the city on Friday in order to avoid transport-related hassle, which normally becomes terrible ahead of the festival.
Hundreds of ticket aspirants flocked to the bus ticket counters, adding to the pressure on the countermen.
Eid will be observed on August 9 or 10, subject to the sighting of the moon.
Most government, semi-government and private offices will be vacant from August 8.
Mahadi-ul-Morshed, a student of Jagannath University, was waiting at Hanif Paribahan's Bahadur Shah Park counter to get on the bus bound for Barisal.
Talking to this correspondent, he said he was leaving the capital for home yesterday as the university went on vacation the day before yesterday.
Solaiman Haq, a government employee at Shohagh counter of Bahadur Shah Park area, said: "My wife, son and younger brother are leaving today, but I cannot leave Dhaka before August 7."
He said he was sending them home earlier to avoid hassle during the Eid time rush.
"A good number of people started leaving the capital from last Thursday and it would help arrange our trips easily," Jewel Hassan, counter manager at Shohagh Paribahan told the Dhaka Tribune.
"We will start double trips from the following days to ease the pressure of passengers heading home," he added.
Ticket counters of SR Paribahan, Hanif, Nabil, Shyamoli, Agomoni, Bablu, Pabna Express, Shohagh, Golden Line, Darshana Deluxe and many others were overcrowded with people leaving the city and searching for tickets.
Failing to get tickets from the leading transport companies, many ticket seekers bought tickets from small bus operators.
Some were also found to make bookings of private cars and microbuses to go home during Eid.
Sohel Habib, a garment staff, said he along with some of his colleagues had booked a microbus from "Paltan rent-a-car" to go to Rajshahi on August 8 to celebrate Eid as they failed to collect tickets for train or bus.
Meanwhile, advanced sale of tickets of Bangladesh Railway which started on July 26 ended on July 30.
The railway officials said the tickets for August 1, 2, 3 had been sold out earlier.
Saiful Haque Khan, joint director of Bangladesh Inland Water Transport Authority of Sadarghat Terminal told the Dhaka Tribune "We have been witnessing passengers rush in the terminal since Thursday and all necessary steps to ensure a safe journey for the homebound passengers have been taken."
