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Following their arrival at the station, passengers will have to take the stairs or escalators to go to the concourse hall on the first floor. Persons with disabilities and elderly people will be able to take the lift.
Then they will have to collect tickets made of plastic from automatic vending machines at the concourse hall by selecting their destinations and paying the fare. One person will be able to by a maximum of five tickets.
Those who do not want to use an automated machine will be able to collect tickets from manned counters as well.
There will be two types of tickets. The first one is a single journey ticket which a passenger will be able to use once. After every trip, they will need to deposit it back before leaving the station. The vending machines can receive notes between Tk 20 and Tk 1,000.
The second one is an MRT pass which passengers will be able to use multiple times. Passengers will punch this prepaid pass at the station for every journey and the fare will be deducted automatically. Passengers will need to recharge after the balance ends. Passengers will be able to carry the card with them and use it whenever they ride the metro rail.
After collecting tickets, passengers will punch in the cards and go to the platforms on the second floor. Once a train arrives, automated doors will open and the passengers on board will get down first. Then the ones waiting on the platform will board. Once the doors close safely, the train will start rolling.
At the platforms, there will be electronic boards displaying every train’s arrival and departure times and other relevant information. On the train, automated voice announcements will alert passengers about each station the train is crossing and the next station.
If anyone travels longer than the destination mentioned in the tickets, he/she will not be able to punch in and open the gate at the station to get out. They will have to pay a fine first and then leave the station.
Dhaka Mass Transit Company Limited (DMTCL) Managing Director MAN Siddique said the single journey tickets will be available at the stations only. Passengers will need to register online to get the MRT pass by paying Tk 200 as a deposit fee.
“But in the future, MRT passes will be available at different shops. People will be able to recharge those using mobile banking services,” he added.
In the first phase, he said, a limited number of trains carrying a small number of passengers will operate for a short period in the morning and the speed will be slower than usual for three months.
The passengers will get a bit longer time than usual for some days to become accustomed to the new seating and ticketing systems. In the beginning, the trains will travel only between Uttara and Agargaon stations without any stops.
Seating arrangements
All six carriages, including the two driver carriages at both ends of the train, will be air-conditioned. One train can carry 306 seated passengers — 48 in each driver's carriage and 54 in each of the other four.
However, initially, each train will carry only 200 passengers and the number will increase later in phases.
Up to 17,000 passengers will be able to travel every day initially, according to DMTCL. People will be able to easily travel standing in the 9.5 feet wide space between the seats on both sides.
There are two rows of long green seats inside the coach with handles hanging from the roof and poles at places for the standing passengers to hold onto on the moving train.
Each train will be able to carry up to 2,000 passengers when they are up and running fully.
The train carriages are built in such a way that the floor remains level with the platform during stops at the stations, making it easier for passengers to get on and down.
The minimum fare has been fixed at Tk 20 and the maximum fare for travelling from Uttara to Motijheel at Tk 100. In the first phase, the fare from Uttara to Agargaon will be Tk 60.
