BIWTA takes steps to woo Eid travellers

The Bangladesh Inland Water Transport Authority has announced a number of initiatives, including making the roads near Sadarghat jam-free, to woo holidaymakers during Eid.

Launch services for southern districts, Barishal in particular, saw a drastic fall in passengers since the Padma Bridge came into operation on 25 June 2022.

It becomes a daunting task for the passengers to reach Sadarghat launch terminal amid a nagging traffic congestion during the Eid rush, apart from a much longer travel time.

At a stakeholders meeting on 18 March, the BIWTA asked the authorities concerned to keep the road from Sadarghat to Bahadurshah Park free of traffic jam while lowering hawkers' presence at the terminal and launches before Eid.

Moreover, Jagannath University has been asked to park their buses inside the campus instead of roads near Victoria Park, and private transport services have been ordered to avoid haphazardly parking buses on both sides of the road from Sadarghat Terminal to Jagannath University from midnight.

According to the meeting, motorcycle carrying on launches has been made limited and launch owners have been requested not to cross capacity for passengers' safety.

As per the decision, motorcycle carrying limit has been set at only two for a 120-foot long launch, four for 120 -200 feet vessels, and six for launches of over 200 feet length.

The meeting also fixed Tk300 fare for motorcycle transport on Dhaka-Chandpur route and Tk500 for longer routes.

However, Bangladesh Inland Waterways Passenger Carrier Association (BIWPCA)'s Secretary Siddiqur Rahman Patwary opposed the decision during the meeting.

Citing a decrease in the number of launch passengers, he requested the BIWTA to increase the number of motorcycle crossings. But the suggestion was turned down.

For passengers' safety, it has also been decided to suspend transportation of goods by boat through Sadarghat for 11 days, five days before Eid and five days after.

Speedboat movement will remain closed at night. In case of emergency, people can call the national emergency service: 999 and BIWTA hotline: 16113.

Advance ticket sell to start from 20th Ramadan

Meanwhile, BIWPCA has decided to sell advance tickets from 20th Ramadan, its Senior Vice-President Badiuzzaman Badal said.

However, the launch owners are still skeptical that they will be able to get a good response from the passengers during Eid-ul-Fitr.

"Earlier, many people would look for tickets even before the start of advance sales. So far, none has talked about advance tickets. We're afraid that there will not be many passengers this time," Badal told TBS.

In view of that, the owners are going to operate 30-35 launches daily from Sadarghat like the normal time whereas 60-65 launches were operated during the last Eid. The frequency will be increased in response to higher demand.