Previous govt changed metro rail’s ticket design

Dhaka Mass Transit Company Ltd (DMTCL) today clarified its stance over the change in design of the single-journey tickets for the Dhaka Metro Rail omitting four images symbolic of Bangladesh’s language and independence struggles.
 
DMTCL, in an official Facebook post today, said the previous government took the decision to redesign the tickets to dispel confusion over the use of almost identical MRT Pass (permanent pass) and single journey tickets.
 
The change came to public attention after DMTCL, which operates the metro rail, introduced 20,000 redesigned single-journey tickets on November 1.
 
These new tickets no longer feature images of the Central Shaheed Minar, National Mausoleum, National Parliament Building, and the national flower, the water lily. Instead, they display only an image of the metro rail itself.
 
The new design has drawn widespread social media criticism, with many questioning the rationale of removing these historical representations from the cards.
 
DMTCL today said 3.13 lakh single-journey tickets and 8.255 lakh MRT Pass were allocated under Mass Rapid Transit (MRT) Line-6 project. But confusion arose among the passengers as the design of both the tickets are almost identical.
 
Many passengers mistakenly attempted to use single-journey tickets with “touch and go” methods similar to the MRT Pass, making the exit gate non-functional, it said.
 
About 200,000 single-journey tickets went missing over time, with staff facing issues as passengers often confused the identical cards and kept them instead of returning the single-journey ones, it added.
 
To solve the problem, the authorities have already changed the colour of some 50,000 single-journey tickets but the move did not bring any result, it said.
 
Due to the shortage of single-journey tickets, a decision was taken to add new tickets and bring changes in design, it said. A letter was sent to the consultants of the project to take the necessary initiative to collect 4 lakh tickets.
 
The contractor was notified of the new ticket design on July 28 and supplied the tickets on November 1.
 
The change in the design of single-journey tickets was brought to dispel confusion and proper management of passengers, it said, adding that the process of the design change was started and finalised during the tenure of the previous government.
 
DMTCL hoped its clarification will dispel the confusion regarding the issue.
 
The MRT Line-6 project, which spans from Uttara to Kamalapur at a cost of Tk 33,472 crore, opened its Uttara-Motijheel section to the public in November 2023.
 
Construction on the Motijheel-Kamalapur section is ongoing.