Tickets of almost all private bus services operating on different national routes from the capital have already sold out for homeward passengers much ahead of Eid ul-Fitr. Many sufferers say those willing to visit their near and dear ones during Eid are being denied tickets in most cases even though they are ready to pay higher prices already being charged by bus operators. Countermen of major bu
s services and local bus operators have raised the fare from Tk 50 to Tk 200 per person. Black marketing of tickets has been widely alleged. Private bus operators started selling tickets in advance on July 14, but it was not worth the wait in lines for those who were unable to collect tickets. Scores of those who went to buy tickets were taken aback by the announcement of ticket shortages for July 26, 27 and 28, the days before Eid likely to be held on July 29 or 30. “I went to Gabtoli to buy three tickets for July 26 or 27 to go to Rajshahi, but I got no ticket. Now I’m trying to collect tickets on the black market, no matter what the fare is,” Rafiul Islam, a college student, told this correspondent. Many alleged that ticket touts and brokers are active to grab a large slice of the ticket sales market. In some cases, bus owners themselves keep most of the tickets in their possession to sell them later at much higher prices. Another allegation is that bus owners reserve some tickets for ‘special and influential clients’. However, an employee at a counterman in Gabtoli claimed that most of the tickets for three days from July 26 to July 28 for several destinations were sold on the first day. Rafiq, a counterman, told this correspondent that they were charging higher fare because ‘the buses carrying homebound passengers will return almost empty, sometimes with a few passengers’. Some counters were not at all selling tickets in advance to passengers while the brokers were found active in charging much higher rates. Advance BRTC Tickets Bangladesh Road Transport Corporation (BRTC) started selling advance tickets at seven depots and other terminal counters on Sunday. Compared to private bus services, fewer people turned up at BRTC depots and counters in the capital to buy tickets. An official of Mohakhali depot said “We started selling tickets on Sunday and presence of ticket buyers is comparatively low but we are hoping more passengers in a day or two.” As part of Eid special service, a total of 900 BRTC buses—500 from Dhaka and 400 from elsewhere—will run from July 24 to three days after Eid. Advance tickets are available at Motijheel, Gazipur, Joar Sahara, Uthli, Narayanganj, Kalyanpur and Mohakhali depots and other terminals in the city. ADVANCE TRAIN TICKETS Bangladesh Railway on Sunday formally started selling advance ticket of all regional routes including Dhaka to Chittagong, Sylhet, Rajshahi and Khulna. People thronged Kamalapur Railway Station in the capital on Sunday and Monday to collect their desired tickets for Eid. Although selling began around 9:00am but hundreds of passengers arrived in the station at midnight and after Sehri. Those who could finally collect tickets after a long wait were happy. On Monday, the second day of selling advance tickets, hundreds of commuters thronged the railway station for getting tickets of July 25. Advance tickets of July 26, 27 and 28 will be sold on July 22, 23 and 24 respectively at Kamalapur and other stations across the country from 9:00am to 5:00pm each day. Besides, commuters will buy standing ticket after from July 24, for instant journey. On Monday, railway police arrested 17 persons for their alleged involvement in selling train tickets on black market at capital’s Kamalapur Railway Station. ADVANCE LAUNCH TICKETS The launch owners were scheduled to start selling advance tickets for cabin accommodation onboard from July 17 to July 19 but most tickets have been sold out even before the scheduled date of the start of sales. Sources say a syndicate has grabbed a large portion of advance launch tickets to sell those during Eid rush at higher rates. They also informed that some cabin tickets were sold only to the passengers known to the launch owners while some tickets have been collected by some top government officials and relatives of lawmakers.
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