People of different ages have seen gathered at different bus, train and launch terminals to purchase Eid journey tickets following the government’s relaxation of shutdown.
According to different sources, from early hours of Wednesday, train, bus, and launch will start operating across the country.
Bangladesh Road Transport Owners Association president Khandaker Enayet Ullah said, “Long-haul buses will leave Dhaka from Wednesday night. All types of public transport including city services will run from today (Thursday).”
While visiting different bus terminals in the city, it was found that people concerned are taking necessary arrangements to ensure hygienic conditions in their buses.
Advance ticket sales have started online since the morning, but many people could not buy tickets due to server complications.
Many buyers have complained of not getting tickets after ticket sales started at 8 am on Wednesday. Many of them said they cannot access the railway website to buy tickets. However, the railway authorities concerned said that the server was a bit slow due to heavy pressure.
All the trains will run with 50 percent of its total seating capacity according to the hygiene rules. Due to the Covid-19 situation, tickets are being sold only online instead of at the counters.
Kamalapur station manager Mohammad Masud Sarwar said he had received several such complaints about not being able to access to the server. But he suggested everyone to try again and again.
The manager said that tickets for Eid journey were being issued for the last four days at a time. As such, tickets for July 15, 16, 17 and 18 have been given online simultaneously. People are trying to enter the server together to purchase tickets but our server can't handle that load.
A passenger who wants to buy two tickets for his Eid journey to Chuadanga told this Correspondent that, "Early in the morning I came here for tickets. But later I was informed tickets are selling through online portal. I repeatedly tried to access to the railway ticket selling platform, but when I finally entered it showed no tickets are available till July 18. And the time was 11:50 am"
It is learnt that all types of tickets except commuter trains are being sold online. The sale was supposed to start on Tuesday but it started on Wednesday morning.
State Minister for Shipping Khalid Mahmud Chowdhury has called upon the passengers to abide by the hygiene rules.
He said, “All passengers travelling on the launch have to wear masks. Passengers will be fined for not following hygiene rules and not wearing masks. Although the lockdown is relaxed, our approach to adhering to hygiene is strict”.
He said this while inspecting various development work of Sadarghat Launch Terminal on Wednesday.
