DHAKA: Home-bound people, including businessmen, who travel regularly by bus on Dhaka-Barisal route have to suffer a lot as Eagle Pribahan (EP), one of the leading service providers, are using unfit vehicles on the vital route.

Passengers accuse EP of lacking minimum service and showing negligence in this regard. Buses go out of order within an hour the journey starts as their fitness are not ensured before leaving, they added.

Private service-holder Bayazid Bin Mahfuz shared some of his worst ever bitter experiences over the journey to Barisal by Eagle Paribahan.

Bayazid, a resident of Motijheel area of the city, along with two friends bought two tickets of the bus service for Dhaka to Barisal from Bashundhara Residential Area in Baridhara area on April 30, costing extra fare per ticket.

“They realize the Tk 550 against a Tk 500 ticket,” he said.

They were told to catch their coach at the main counter of the service at Malibagh before 11:00pm of the day.

As they were in very good mood to take travel, so they were on time there. Their mood went bad after they saw the bus, which was nothing but a ramshackle one and their mood became totally off when they began journey at 11:00pm.

“They gave us the bus totally dirty and maximum seats are broken when the driver holds the break we put down inside the,” Bayazid lamented.

On arrival at Abdullahpur counter at midnight, the driver began whispering with the supervisor and the helper as the engine developed mechanical faults.

Moments later, they and the passengers altogether pulled the vehicle, if the engine may take start the bus, but it did not. And then, the trio and several other passengers left the bus fearing the consequences in case the bus stopped plying anywhere on the route in the night.

They verbally complained over the sufferings at Abdullahpur counter. At one stage, they began shouting as none paid heed to them.

As a result, the countermen talked with the main counter and said the passengers would be taken to Barisal by another bus which just arrived at Abdullahpur from Barisal at 1:00pm.

The countermen tried to leave some passengers there who came to Dhaka by that arriving coach, falling them in odd situations on that very late night.

The scenario is almost same for every night as the EP has been using the “rejected vehicles” on the route. The busses leave the city “without checking”.

Finally, the trio arrived at their destination at 12:30pm on April 1, some 25.30 hours after they began the journey, which usually takes 5 to 7 hours.

What does Bayazid want now? Nothing but none would ever go through this kind of bitter experiences, which he and the friends had in the middle of the night on the uptown of the city.

They want to stop passengers’ harassing of the Eagle Paribahan and draw attention on its transport service on the route.

BDST: 1818 HRS MAY 04, 2014