Metro Rail – Tickets to go on sale after PM’s trip
The Metro Rail Authority plans to start selling single- and multiple-use cards after launching the country’s first metro rail on December 28.
Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina, who will inaugurate the service, will buy the first ticket and authorities will start selling tickets to the public after she leaves the site as per the plan.
After inaugurating Mass Rapid Transit Line-6 at Bangabandhu International Conference Center on December 28, he will go to Uttara from Agargaon by metro.
It was decided that people would be able to travel on the metro from the next day, said MN Siddique, managing director of Dhaka Mass Transit Company Limited, the implementing and managing body.
DMTCL authorities yesterday held an important meeting with consultants, experts and officials of the project financier JICA to review the preparations ahead of the official inauguration.
“We are satisfied with the preparations,” he told the Daily Star last night.
He further said that after the departure of the Prime Minister, the decision regarding the sale of cards will be finalized after discussion with the SSF.
Those who buy single-use cards at the station will have to surrender them after the journey, he said. Cards will be sold in a vending machine and from a booth.
Multiple-use cards can be used for 10 years. Passengers have to register and pay Rs 400 for these cards. Of the Rs 400, Rs 200 will be used as deposit and Rs 200 can be used for travelling, he said, adding that a passenger can refill the card up to Rs 10,000.
Siddiqui said that the passengers will get the money back by returning the card.
For now, people will have to buy the cards with cash, he said, adding that the authority is working with various mobile financial service providers so that passengers can buy the cards through mobile transactions.
From December 29, the metro will run for two hours in the morning and two hours in the evening for the first few days, he added.
The time will gradually increase, he said.
Meanwhile, ABM Amin Ullah Nuri, secretary of the road transport and highways division, yesterday visited the Uttara North Station area to select a location for the inauguration plaque and programme, officials said.
Metro authorities also updated Tofazzel Hossain Miah, principal secretary to the Prime Minister, on their preparations.
The 11.73km section of the metro rail from Uttara to Agargaon is set to open soon, with the remaining 8km from Agargaon to Motijheel scheduled to be in operation by December next year. The other 1km from Motijheel to Kamalapur is planned to be inaugurated by June 2025.
The original cost of the project was Tk 21,985 crore, but it was revised upwards to Tk 33,472 crore.
The escalation in costs was largely due to the acquisition of new lands to change the station’s design and the building of an extension from Motijheel to Kamalapur. The majority of the funding for this will come from Japan in the form of soft loans.
