The advance sale of bus tickets for Eid-ul-Azha and Durga Puja began yesterday but the number of people turning up at the counters was significantly lower than expected.
Ticket sellers of different transport operators, including Hanif Enterprise and Shyamoli Paribahan, in Gabtoli, Kalyanpur and several other bus terminals in the capital awaited passengers for hours but only a handful showed up.
The prices of tickets are the same as the previous year and we are not charging extra, said Helaluddin, the ticket seller at the counter Shyamoli Paribahan.
However, Mainul Islam, a passenger, alleged that he had to pay an additional Tk100 for the ticket.
“I bought a ticket of Shyamoli Paribahan for Dinajpur on September 2. I paid Tk500 but today I had to pay Tk600 for the ticket,” he said.
Spokesman for the Bus-Truck Owners Association Md Salahuddin told the Dhaka Tribune the rush to go home would peak on October 2.
“This is why we have started selling tickets 19 days before Puja and 21 days before Eid,” he added.
Bangladesh Road Transport Corporation will begin selling advance tickets on September 26. The BRTC will also operate special services starting from October 2.
Advance train tickets, as was announced by Railways Minister Mujibul Haque, would be available from September 26 to 30 while tickets would be sold from 9am to 5pm daily.
Advance tickets for October 1 could be collected from September 26, October 2 from Sept 27, October 3 from September 28, October 4 from September 29 and October 5 from September 30. Return tickets will be available from October 3 to October 8.
Bangladesh Inland Waterways Association is yet to decide on a date to start selling advance tickets.
Mahbub Uddin Ahmed, president of the association, said the date would be set after holding a meeting within a couple of days.
