Lack of Single Journey Tickets: Suffering of metro rail passengers likely to continue

The suffering of the metro rail passengers due to shortage of single journey tickets is likely to continue for at least one more month.

Officials of Dhaka Mass Transit Company Limited, the implementing agency of the Mass Rapid Transit Line – 6 project popularly known as the metro rail, said on Wednesday that they would introduce a quick response code based ticketing system at the end of January 2025.

From today the company is also scheduled to open the ticket booths for Rapid Passes.

These passes are, however, already in use.

Currently between 40 to 50 per cent passengers use single journey tickets while the rest of the passengers use the MRT and the Rapid passes which are reusable and rechargeable.

In recent times the passengers are facing difficulties to use the country’s first-ever air-conditioned and electricity-powered elevated rail service in the capital on the Uttara-Motijheel route.

At different stations including Kazipara, Shewrapara and Mirpur 11 the passengers could not get into the stations due to lack of single journey tickets.

The passengers with MRT or Rapid passes are being allowed to use the service, the officials said.

Following the suffering, the DMTCL on Tuesday expressed sorrow in a special announcement and said that the situation would likely to improve at the end of this month.

The company officials said that initially 3.13 lakh single-journey tickets were being introduced out of which around 2 lakh went ‘missing’ till now as those were not submitted to ticket machines after using.

A total of around 8 lakh MRT passes have been sold which are rechargeable.

Since October this year DMTCL stopped selling MRT passes with an aim to replace these with the Rapid passes.

The DMTCL managing director Mohammad Abdur Rouf told New Age on Wednesday that currently they had around 50,000 single journey tickets.

‘We already started the tender process for starting QR code based ticketing system from the end of January next year,’ he said, adding, ‘from tomorrow (Thursday) Rapid passes can be used in our ticket booths.’

Abdur Rouf said that within March next year the company would get 2.49 lakh new single journey tickets for using.