Sylhet Correspondent – Passengers traveling between Sylhet and Dhaka are facing severe long-standing hardships as transport options become increasingly unreliable.
While road trips that normally take five to five and a half hours are now taking nearly double the time, airfares are skyrocketing to several times the minimum rate. Left with no choice, passengers turning to trains are hit with massive ticket shortages.
Speaking to people from various professions in Sylhet, a grim picture of the transport crisis emerged. According to them, the Ministry of Civil Aviation and Tourism fixed the minimum airfare for the Dhaka-Sylhet route at BDT 3,199 (including taxes) on November 23.
However, tickets are practically unavailable at this rate, with BDT 5,000 to BDT 5,500 becoming the new normal. Passengers have strongly questioned the drastic fare discrepancies at different times of the same day.
According to Roads and Highways Department (RHD) sources, the Dhaka-Sylhet highway spans 209 kilometers. While buses used to cover this distance in four and a half to five hours, passengers report that it now regularly takes 8 to 9 hours to reach their destination.
Shapla Debnath, a driver for RP Elegance bus, explained, “The journey from Dhaka to Sylhet is supposed to take five hours. However, crossing just a 6-7 km stretch from Ashuganj Roundabout to Narayanpur on the highway takes up to five to six hours due to gridlocks.”
Malek Ahmad, a local businessman, shared his frustration: “I cannot afford air travel, and train tickets are never available. So, I must take the bus. The same journey sometimes takes 9-10 hours, and other times it stretches to 14-15 hours.”
To escape the highway misery, many look for train tickets, but online tickets sell out within minutes of release. Rehana Afroz Khan Moni, who recently traveled from Sylhet to Dhaka on the Upaban Express, noted that while her train arrived with relative punctuality, most trains suffer from a two to two-and-a-half-hour delay.
She also highlighted severe overcrowding, noting that there were more standing passengers in her compartment than seated ones.
Rajib Chowdhury, a businessman and activist who regularly flies on the Sylhet-Dhaka route, stated, “Although the government set the minimum fare at BDT 3,199, I have never booked a ticket at that price.
For over two months, I haven’t found a single ticket below BDT 5,000. Quite often, a ticket that costs BDT 5,000 to 5,500 in the morning or afternoon spikes to BDT 18,000 to 20,000 by evening or night. There is no justification for such massive price hikes on the exact same route.”
An airline official, speaking on condition of anonymity, explained that when demand increases, airlines reduce the number of low-tier tickets, causing fares to surge rapidly. However, he questioned the ethics behind it: “Prices can go up, but why should they surge by over 50 percent or even past 200 percent?”
Khandaker Shipar Ahmad, proprietor of Shipar Air Service and former director of the Sylhet Chamber of Commerce and Industry, commented, “Fares remain low if booked well in advance and rise as the departure date nears.
However, it is completely unclear what criteria airlines use to set these prices. The Civil Aviation Authority needs strict monitoring to bring this situation under control.”