BRTC draws little interest

While long queues of ticket-seekers were seen in front of the counters at Kamalapur Railway Station and those of private bus operators, the picture in front of the state-run BRTC's bus counters has been quite opposite since it started advance sales on Friday.

Few people visited ticket sale points of Bangladesh Road Transport Corporation (BRTC), and its staff rather idled away their time, waiting for ticket-seekers.

Uncomfortable seating arrangements, inconvenient schedules, and a lack of publicity appeared to be the main reasons behind such poor response.

"We started advance sales on Friday and tickets are available. But people don't come. They prefer to travel by private buses," said a staff at the BRTC bus depot in Kalyanpur.

Speaking of BRTC buses, Paritosh Roy, who travels from Dhaka to Bogra regularly, said, "The seats are congested. We can't sit comfortably.  As huge gridlocks are created on roads ahead of Eid, we need to remain seated for a long time. So, I prefer private buses."

Though BRTC high officials claimed that they would operate 500 additional buses during the Eid rush, depot officials said they would operate a few double-decker buses initially and add more buses based on the passengers' rush.

An official at Kalyanpur bus depot said they would initially operate only four double-decker buses from Kalyanpur to Rajshahi, Rangpur and Naogaon on July 16-17.

Similarly, BRTC staff at the Mirpur bus depot were seen selling tickets of only one double-decker bus on Dhaka-Rangpur route for July 16.

The same situation was observed at the Kamalapur bus depot on Saturday. The ticket sellers informed that only two double-decker buses will be operated on July 16-17 from Kamalapur to Bogra and Rangpur.

About the schedule of BRTC buses, Masud Mawla, a passenger, said, "The private companies are operating buses every hour. But BRTC staff are saying they will operate only one or two buses to Rangpur on July 16. So, why should I wait for a particular bus when I have another option?"

Asked about the reasons behind the very low number of buses to be operated on the Eid occasion, officials of all BRTC bus depots gave the same reply -- tickets were yet to be sold.

Besides, many people are unaware about BRTC services due to poor publicity.

"We usually travel by private buses like Hanif, Shyamoli or SR. We don't know that BRTC operates special services and where tickets are distributed," said Zahirul Islam, a government officer, who travels from Dhaka to Rajshahi every Eid.

About uncomfortable travel, BRTC Chairman Mizanur Rahman told The Daily Star, "We have to run the services with the buses we have."

About public apathy to BRTC services, he said, "Low-income people travel by our buses. I think the rush will increase after closing of the garments factories."

TRAINS

The sale of advance train tickets yesterday continued for the fourth consecutive day at Kamalapur Railway Station in Dhaka and at Chittagong Railway Station.

Tickets of July 16 were sold yesterday, while tickets of July 17 will be sold today.

Like the previous day, hundreds of people thronged the stations for tickets, and many returned empty handed even after long waits.

At Chittagong station, 5,554 tickets were sold yesterday, said Md Abul Kalam Azad, the station manager.