There have been allegations of taking extra money for return tickets of those who are going home from Dhaka on the occasion of Eid ul-Fitr.
Passengers have complained that the bus owners and their egencies have increased the minimum fare by Tk 100 and maximum by Tk 500 per ticket.
However, the bus owners have denied the allegations of taking extra fare from the passengers. Enamul Haque, owner of Royal Express, a bus ply on the Dhaka-Chuadanga route, said they are taking the fare fixed by the government for the tickets of the chair coaches.
He claimed that the bus fare has increased but at a tolerable level ahead of Eid. At the last meeting with the transport owners, the government fixed the bus ticket price from Dhaka to Chuadanga at Tk 668. But in normal time they take Tk 550 for each ticket.
However, ahead of Eid they are taking Tk 650 per ticket. And the owners have fixed the ticket prices of air-conditioned (AC) buses on the basis of their expenses.
The sale of bus tickets for returning to Dhaka at the end of Eid have already started. And most of the companies have almost finished selling advance return tickets. According to the transport owners and workers, the passengers have to pay extra money for bus tickets from 10 days before Eid and 10 days after Eid.
It has been learned that hundreds of buses from Alamdanga, Hatboalia, Karpasdanga, Darshana, Jivannagar and Mujibnagar in Chuadanga district leave for Dhaka every day. Among these buses, there are more than 50 buses of ‘Royal Express’. In addition, more than 50 buses of Chuadanga Deluxe, Purbasha Paribahan, Darshana Deluxe, JR Paribahan operate on this route.
Speaking to the passengers it was learned that the fare of chair coaches (non-AC) is being increased from Tk 550 to 650 at the bus counters of these companies. Apart from this, more than Tk 300 to Tk 500 is being collected from each passenger of AC buses based on the standard.
The ticket price for AC buses has increased from Tk 700 to Tk 1,000 for the tickets of J One Paribahan, from Tk 1,100 to Tk 1,400 for the tickets of RM2 AC buses and from Tk 1,300 to Tk 1,800 Scania high deck (HD) buses.
Speaking to Prothom Alo, Moinuddin, general secretary of Chuadanga Road Transport Owners' Association, said although people are charged with a little extra money, the owners do not profit much from it.
He claimed that even though there is pressure of Chuadanga-bound passengers before Eid, the buses have to run almost without any passengers on their way back. Similarly, after the Eid, there is a pressure of Dhaka-bound passengers, but the buses had to return to Chuadanga almost empty. They often face difficulties to meet the expenses due to the one-way passengers. Therefore, they had increased the fare a bit to adjust the cost.