Ashraful Alam had been standing in a queue at the Gabtoli counter of SR Paribahan since 8:00am yesterday to buy two advance tickets for June 4 to go to Dinajpur ahead of Eid.

Despite waiting for around six hours, he failed to get his desired tickets.

“When my turn came around 2:00pm, staffers of the counter told me that tickets for July 4 and 5 have been sold out,” Ashraful, a student of Dhaka University, told The Daily Star at Gabtoli.

Like Ashraful, many people had the same experience yesterday, as tickets for July 4 and 5 of most of the reputed bus companies had vanished within a few hours on the first day of advance bus ticket sale which started yesterday.

Passengers also alleged that bus operators, like every year, were charging high fare, taking advantage of the huge demand for tickets ahead of Eid.

Most of the leading bus companies, including Hanif Paribahan, Shyamoli Paribahan and SR Paribahan, started selling advance bus tickets for the Eid holidaymakers.

Braving scorching heat, many people, most of them were fasting, thronged the bus counters early in the morning to buy tickets.

As the demand for the tickets of three days -- June 30, July 4 and 5 -- are very high, many people did not get tickets for those days, said transport operators.

However, many passengers alleged that the bus operators reserved tickets for VIPs or other influentials. That is why they were saying tickets had been sold out.

“Usually, I need Tk 600 to travel to Dinajpur from Dhaka in Shyamoli Paribahan. But they are now charging Tk 650,” said Fazlul Karim, who works in a private organisation.

Hanif Paribahan is taking Tk 640 for travelling to Rajshahi from Dhaka ahead of Eid. 

Usually, a passenger has to spend Tk 500 to travel on the same route in the same company's buses, said passengers.

“I was surprised to hear the ticket price,” said Utpal Das who went to Satkhira Express counter in the capital's Shyamoli area yesterday to buy a ticket for June 4.

“The staffers told me that I will have to pay them Tk 550, if I want to travel before June 23. But I will have to pay them Tk 670, if I want to travel between June 24 and Eid day,” Utpal, a government employee, told The Daily Star.

As per the government fare chart, a passenger is supposed to pay Tk 444 for travelling from Dhaka to Rajshahi, Tk 495 to Dinajpur and Tk 482 to Satkhira.

However, the transport operators claimed that all the bus companies were charging fare as per the government fixed rate.

“There is no scope for charging extra fare. We have issued directives to all the bus companies to strictly follow the government fare chart,” said Romesh Chandra Ghosh, vice-chairman of Bangladesh Bus-Truck Owners Association.

About the ticket crisis, he said, “If everyone wants tickets for the same day, how will we provide tickets? The demand of tickets for June 30, July 4 and 5 is very high. We have tickets available for other days.”

During Eid, a majority of the people choose to travel to their ancestral homes to spend the festival with their near and dear ones.