Rush for Eid bus tickets

Mamun had been in a long queue since early morning to get an advance bus ticket for Rajshahi for June 3 to celebrate Eid-ul-Fitr with his dear ones. When he finally reached the Hanif Paribahan counter in Gabtoli around 8:30am, he came to know that tickets for the date were already sold out.

Finding no other way, he had to buy the ticket for the next morning, and his seat was in the back.

Just 300 yards away, in front of SR Paribahan counter, 50-year-old Rubina Akhter came from Azimpur with her daughter to get tickets of AC buses for Rangpur. But a notice was hung on the counter’s window reading “no advance ticket for AC bus”.

Talking to The Daily Star, Rubina said she was unaware of the matter.

The first day sale of advance tickets for the forthcoming Eid-ul-Fitr began yesterday around 6:30am amid the familiar scenes of long waits, overcharging and non-availability of tickets.

Hundreds of people thronged the bus counters in Gabtoli, Kalyanpur, Shyamoli, Mohakhali, and Kalabagan.

Tickets of AC buses were sold only at a few select counters and online, said sources of different bus counters.

Visiting different bus counters in Gabtoli and Kalyanpur, this correspondent found ticket crisis for May 30 and June 3, as most of the holidaymakers were wanting tickets for the dates.

Long queues were seen in the first few hours of ticket sale. The crowd lessened after 11:00am. Women had to stand in queues with men as there was no separate line for them. Some were lucky to purchase tickets online.

Many ticket-seekers complained that the bus authorities were charging extra -- Tk 50 to 250 -- per ticket, defying the rates fixed by the Bangladesh Road Transport Authority (BRTA).

On May 11, Bangladesh Bus-Truck Owners’ Association instructed the bus operators to follow the price chart fixed by the BRTA.

Abdus Samad and Farhad, who are Kurigram-bound holidaymakers, said operators of Hanif Paribahan took Tk 750 for a ticket for Kurigram instead of Tk 650.

Some of the ticket-seekers alleged that the operators were just selling tickets for seats in the back. Most of the people who went to the bus counters got tickets, but some did not get tickets for their desired dates.

About the allegation of overcharging, bus owners said throughout the year, they charged passengers less than the rates fixed by the BRTA as they earned enough due to round trips. But during the Eid, they sold tickets at the fixed rate as they had no income from return trips.

Mosharraf Hossain, a manager of Hanif Paribahan, said the AC bus tickets were not sold like those of normal chair coach.

“Those who are regular passengers get preferences. Besides, there are many brands of AC buses. We have Volvo; some others have Scania or Hyundai,” he said, claiming that the BRTA did not fix rates for AC bus tickets, as the bus owners fixed the price upon the AC buses’ condition.

Romesh Chandra Ghosh, chairman of Bangladesh Bus-Truck Owners’ Association, earlier said there was no scope for charging extra defying the government price chart and if anyone did so, the association would take actions after probe.

But this correspondent could not contact him for comments yesterday.