Many Eid holidaymakers return without bus ticket in Dhaka

Advance bus tickets for Eid holidaymakers were unavailable within a few hours of the sale that began in the capital yesterday.

Many returned empty-handed failing to get tickets for the most desired dates -- September 22 and 23 -- even after waiting in queues for hours. They were told the tickets had been “sold out”.

Eid-ul-Azha is likely to be on September 24 or 25.

Ticket-seekers alleged bus operators were charging them higher fares than usual, taking an undue advantage of the huge demand.

However, bus owners claimed they were demanding as per the rate fixed by the government.

Visiting several bus counters in Kalyanpur, Technical and Gabtoli areas yesterday, The Daily Star saw chaotic scenes there as people were rushing from one counter to another to get their desired tickets.

Frustrated, some bought tickets for earlier dates.   

“There is no ticket for [September] 22 and 23. Therefore, I have bought ones for September 20,” Nazimuddin, a businessman who wants to go to Naogaon, said at a counter of SR Paribahan in Gabtoli around 3:00pm.

He had been standing in a queue there since 5:30am.

However, another holidaymaker, Abul Kalam Azad, was quite lucky. He got two tickets to Thakurgaon for September 23 from the Hanif Enterprise counter in the same area.

“I held the hand of the man who was inside the counter and requested him for the tickets. I got the tickets only after that,” he said, adding that he had to stand in a queue for over eight hours.

Azad alleged he had been charged Tk 300 extra.

“Usually two tickets for Thakurgaon cost Tk 1300. He [the ticket seller] kept Tk 800 for each of the tickets.”

Posing as a passenger, The Daily Star asked for tickets to at least eight districts, including Rangpur, Kushtia, Rajshahi, Dinajpur, Gaibandha, Thakurgaon, and Naogaon, for September 22 and 23.

But the staff at the counters of Shyamoli Paribahan, SR Paribahan and Hanif Paribahan said they had no tickets as asked.

However, some people came and bought tickets quite easily as they had references from influential people or bus operators.

On the issue of higher fares, Ramesh Chandra Ghosh, managing director of Shyamoli Paribahan, said, “Throughout the year, we charge passengers 20 to 30 percent less than the rate fixed. Right now, the fare is what it should be.”

Bangladesh Road Transport Corporation (BRTC) will start selling advance Eid tickets from September 16 while Bangladesh Railway authorities will begin selling advance train tickets from September 15.

The sale of advance train tickets will continue till September 19 at Kamalapur in the capital and Chittagong railway stations.