Higher prices alleged as advance bus tickets start selling

The sales of advance tickets for different long-route bus services have already started with nearly two weeks for Eid-ul-Fitr, but buyers alleged that most of the coach operators from Dhaka were charging much more than the usual price.

They also alleged that most of the long-distance coach operators announced that there was no ticket for September 8 and 9 or all the tickets were sold out as Eid-ul-Fitr is expected to be observed on September 10 or 11.

A number of private transport service providers including Hanif Enterprise, Shyamoli Paribahan, S Alam Paribahan and Shohag Paribahan Pvt started selling Eid tickets on Wednesday from all of their city outlets, their executives said.

Morshed Noman, who wanted to buy a ticket for Panchagarh, said most of the coaches including Hanif Paribahan, Nabila and Babul were selling ticket for Panchagarh at Tk 580, which is Tk 300 to Tk 350 at other times.

Obkafariya Islam, another buyer of ticket, alleged, ‘Counter executives of different coaches are saying they have sold out all the tickets but, in fact, they have tickets which they will sell at higher prices just before Eid for some extra income.’

When approached, Bangladesh Bus-Truck Paribahan Trust chairman GM Siraj told New Age that, ‘We are selling tickets as per the government-prescribed chart. At other times, we take less than the government-fixed prices. This is why the buyers think we are taking more that the usual price.’

The Bangladesh Road Transport Corporation, the public transport service provider, will start selling tickets within the next few days.

The corporation will add 200 single and double-decker buses to its regular services to different districts from Dhaka.

At present, a total of 600 BRTC buses ply different roads across the country, with about 280 of them in and around the capital.

The Bangladesh Railway will add about 100 extra coaches to its inter-city and main train services for safe and smooth transportation of home-bound passengers during the Eid holydays.

BR director general Belayet Hossain said the authorities would add one to three coaches to every inter-city, mail and express train depending on the pressure of passengers.

One additional pair of trains would ply Dhaka-Dewanganj-Dhaka route, two pairs of trains Chittagong-Chandpur-Chittagong route and one pair of trains Parbatripur-Dhaka-Parbatipur route.

There will be no weekly holidays for inter-city trains from September 5 to the day before Eid and for seven days from the second day of Eid.

The railway will start sale of advance tickets on August 31.

Tickets for journey on September 5 would be sold on August 31 while those for September 6 on September 1, those for September 7 on September 2, those for September 8 on September 3 and those for September 9 on September 4.

Though tickets for regular services will be available as usual, passengers can also book tickets through Short Message Service of their mobile phones, officials said.

In the meantime, the shipping ministry in a meeting with the stakeholders took initiatives for ensuring smooth operation of private and public run vessels.

The government-run transport agencies including the Bangladesh Inland Water Transport Corporation has arranged an eleven-day special launch service from September 6 on 22 major river and coastal routes to reduce pressure of home-bound passengers on the occasion.