Metrorail hit by card crisis, paper tickets likely for single journey

Sufferings of commuters have mounted as a crisis of tickets has hit the Dhaka metrorail service with many passengers leaving the stations without availing single journey tickets. Besides, sales of permanent cards, also known as MRT Pass, nearly stopped due to supply shortage. Authorities concerned are trying to increase the supply of single journey tickets but they have no answer as to when the supply of permanent cards might begin.

According to sources at the Dhaka Mass Transit Company Limited (DMTCL), the owning company of the Dhaka metrorail, the DMTCL still has 30,000 single journey cards and another 30,000 cards will arrive within December while another 120,000 cards are likely to come to the country at the end of January. However, officials think all of these cards would not mitigate the crisis of the single journey cards.

Currently, about 350,000 passengers, according to the DMTCL, commute on metrorail with 45 per cent of them using single journey cards and 55 per cent using MRT cards.

Passengers waited at the stations longer than the usual time as the crisis of single journey cards deepened. Many passengers even took alternative ways to reach their destinations.

It has been learned that Ansar members were allowing passengers entry to the stations after enquiring whether they had any MRT cards.

Sabrina Alam, who boarded the train from Shewrapara station, said, “Ansar members are discouraging or denying passengers’ entry with single journey cards. They said ‘there is a crisis of single journey cards. So, passengers have been waiting in queue for a long.’”

According to sources at the DMTCL, Japanese Nippon Signal supplied 310,000 single journey cards and 728,000 MRT cards for the metrorail at the beginning. Almost all of the MRT cards have been sold. Meanwhile, the DMTCL could purchase no new cards. So, they stopped selling it and kept some cards in order to replace the lost or broken cards.

The DMTCL admitted to facing a crisis of single journey cards. The company said currently, passengers need more time to buy single journey cards at several busy stations due to a rise in the number of passengers. Besides, the crisis of cards also increased as passengers did not return single-journey cards at designated places after the journey, while some cards have been damaged.

The authorities said single journey cards are being collected soon to resolve the crisis. Besides, the process is underway to arrange travel through the QR (quick response) code system.

However, the DMTCL expects the situation will improve at the end of December.

The authorities concerned spent about Tk 150 per single journey ticket, which can be used repeatedly. When passengers do not return the single journey cards, the government faces economic loss.

Officials at DMTCL said single journey tickets go missing in various ways. Many passengers took the tickets home as souvenirs. In some cases, passengers purchased two single tickets for round trips to avoid long queues. A single journey ticket remains valid until 12:00 am. Many passengers might take the tickets home after they find these cards ineffective on the next day. Many may not give the ticket after return trips. Besides, many passengers took several single journey tickets at the beginning but did not return those after they could not use them on the next day.

On top of that, some tickets have gone out of order. An official told Prothom Alo on condition of anonymity that many passengers holding tickets put their hands on escalator handrails, damaging the cards; some cards are twisted, and some cards even have bite or scratch marks.

In this context, the DMTCL has taken an alternative initiative to resolve the crisis in addition to the import of cards.

Sources said paper cards containing QR code will be introduced. Passengers can enter and leave the stations after scanning the cards in the machine. Separate machines and entry points will be set up for paper cards at all stations.

Paper tickets will remain valid for a day. Such tickets are available in many countries.

The DMTCL has started the process to appoint contractors to collect paper tickets as the company tries to introduce it in one and a half months. However, plastic single journey tickets will also remain available.

The Dhaka Transport Coordination Authority (DTCA) introduced Rapid Pass in 2015 with the slogan “One Card for All Transport” to pay fares for public and private transportation on roadways, railways and waterways.

With technical assistance from the Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA), the DTCA has undertaken the project “Establishment of Clearing House for Integrating Transport Ticketing System in Dhaka City and Adjacent Districts (Phase-II)” at a cost of Tk 1.20 billion to collect Rapid Pass.

The project is known as Clearing House, and the JICA no longer provides technical support.

The metrorail project said single journey tickets and MRT passes were collected under the metrorail project at the beginning. When all MRT Passes were sold, the DMTCL moved to purchase it again but the DTCA did not agree to it because it wants metrorail to go on Rapid pass entirely. So they supplied no more codes for the MRT Pass, and no MRT cards were purchased.

As a result, the metrorail authorities will no longer sell MRT passes and passengers must collect Rapid Passes. Authorities said the supply of Rapid Passes will increase at the metrorail stations from January.

Speaking about the overall situation, DMTCL managing director Abdur Rauf told Prothom Alo that problems with the single journey cards will be solved within December. An all-out effort is underway to avoid passenger sufferings.

Besides, Rapid Pass will be sold as a permanent pass and no more MRT passes will be issued, he added.