Bangladesh Road Transport Corporation (BRTC) today starts selling tickets for travel from the capital to different districts ahead of Eid-ul-Azha while Bangladesh Railway will sell tickets from October 27 to October 31.
The advance bus tickets will be available at the city’s four bus depots–Motijheel, Pallabi, Kalyanpur and Joarsahara, said BRTC General Manager (operations) Quazi Shafique Uddin.
BRTC will also provide special service from three days before to three days after the festival, he said.
Under the special service, over 300 buses will carry passengers from Dhaka to 20 districts across the country. The regular bus operation will continue.
“We will cover 46 districts through regular and special services,” said Quazi.
Launches and private bus operators have already started selling tickets from Thursday and Friday.
Romesh Chandra Ghosh, managing director of Shyamoli Paribahan, a private bus company, said, “Considering the demand for advance tickets, we have started selling tickets earlier”.
Khandaker Enayet Ullah, general secretary of Dhaka Sarak Paribahan Samity, said almost all the companies started selling tickets two to three days ago. However, there is no central monitoring system for ticket sale, he added.
The railway will sell advance tickets between November 2 and November 6, said Shahdat Hossain, director (traffic) of Bangladesh Railway.
A total of 14 special trains will run on inter-city routes and 131 coaches will be added, he said.
No cabin ticket for the days from November 3 to November 6 is available, said Badiuzzaman Badal, senior vice-president of Bangladesh Inland Waterways (passenger carrier’s) Association.
Government-run Bangladesh Inland Water Transport Corporation (BIWTC) will operate two special steamers from November 2 to the Eid day. The fare will be half compared to the private launches, said a BIWTC official.
BIWTC will also run 15 to 16 ferries from Mawa and 11 ferries from Paturia ferry terminal before Eid, said BIWTC Deputy General Manager Sheikh Mohammad Nasim.