What is causing the metro rail ticket machine glitch?

The ticket machines for Bangladesh’s first urban train system do not have enough cash to give change for purchases, an official said

Long queues formed at Dhaka’s metro rail ticket counters on the first day the passenger service was opened to the general public due to glitches in the ticket machines.

The lines stretched for quite some distance past the main gates to the station. Many commuters expressed their disappointment and frustration that such problems were cropping up at the very start of the electric train service.

The machines do not have enough notes inside to provide change to customers who are buying tickets with larger notes, according to an official on the Metro Rail Project at Agargaon Station.

Iftekhar Hossain, general manager (operations) at the Dhaka Mass Transit Company Limited, was seen losing his temper over the issue at the Agargaon station on Thursday morning. He was seen loudly berating an official who held a position equivalent to the post of joint secretary.

“For a month we’ve said we’ll start operations, but what have you done?” Iftekhar Hossain said. “Now there’s pressure from all sides. Why aren’t the machines working? What’s the cause?”

On condition of anonymity, the official told bdnews24.com that cash had not been loaded into the machines and was causing the issue.

“Many customers used large notes, but there wasn’t enough cash in the machines to provide change after their purchases were completed, which is the problem.”

Three ticket vending machines have been installed at the north end of Agargaon station and as many at the south end. A traditional counter manned by staff is situated next to them and sells tickets manually.

As the machines are not working, long lines have formed at the counters.

“I have been standing at the counter for 20 minutes, but they have not been able to sell me a ticket,” said Md Shamim, who was waiting to use the metro rail. “The machines are broken.”

Another passenger who tried to buy a ticket at Agargaon station on Thursday morning said they put Tk 60 into a machine, but did not receive a ticket. Twenty minutes later, they were instead handed a ticket from the counter.

“We are having some temporary problems selling tickets,” said Station Controller Sohel Rana. “We are trying to solve it.”

The gates at the Agargaon station were scheduled to open at 8 am, but opened a half-hour late. Over 100 expectant passengers had lined up outside the gate two to three hours before that. The crowd only grew larger as the gates opened.

Three machines are not working at the moment, said Sohel Rana, explaining why the station opened late. The rush of passengers at the traditional counters is increasing, so the station workers are trying to control the flow of travellers to the platform.

“Our engineers are working on it and everything will be fixed soon,” Sohel said.

Imam Hossain and Abdur Rahman are two of the passengers who were waiting at the station gates for a long time. Many of them were annoyed that the station opened late.

Initially, station staff barred passengers from entering, but eventually, they started to allow passengers to enter in groups of eight to 10.

‘DON’T BE TOO CRITICAL’’

Road Transport and Bridges Minister Obaidul Quader urged people not to judge trivial problems critically on the first day of metro rail services.

Facing questions from journalists over the ticket machine issue, Quader said: “Why do you judge it critically? There can be problems because this thing is new to Bangladesh.”

He said the problems will gradually go and people will need time to get used to the new services.

“We have experienced people in charge. It’s an advanced metro rail system unlike the one in Kolkata.”

NEARLY 4,000 PASSENGERS ON FIRST DAY

MAN Siddique, managing director of DMTCL, said 3,857 passengers used metro services on the first day. The services were open to the public until 7pm.

For now, travel passes will be sold from 3pm to 9pm, he said. “We’ll change the time if necessary.”

The metro rail will be capable of carrying 60,000 passengers an hour and 500,000 passengers in a day when it starts running at full capacity, according to the DMTCL.

On each trip, a metro train with six coaches can carry a maximum of 2,308 passengers to their destinations.