The process of this change began under the previous Awami League government and the design was finalized and commissioned to clear the confusion between the two cards, DMTCL said.

You may have noticed that the new one-way card you buy to take the metro is different from the previous one.

Indeed, the Dhaka Mass Transit Company Limited (DMTCL) recently issued new cards due to a shortage of one-way metro tickets. But there’s another reason why these cards have a completely new design.

Previously, the design of the one-way ticket was the same as the MRT card.

You will now notice a small black box labeled “single ticket” added to the upper right corner of the card, while the rest is pretty much the same.

The changes sparked much discussion on social media, with many even criticizing the decision as it also omits four symbolic images of Bangladesh’s language and independence struggles.

Regarding the design change, the DMTCL issued a statement on its official Facebook page today (November 10), saying that the process of this change was started under the previous Awami League government and the design was finalized and ordered to clear up confusion between the two cards.

Tickets issued under the current government are used for passenger convenience and crowd management, Dhaka Metro said, clarifying its position.

The new cards were introduced at stations from November 3 in a bid to stop passengers taking the card with them.

DMTCL said the MRT Line-6 ​​project provides a total of 3.13 lakh one-way tickets and a total of 8,25,500 MRT passes.

“The one-way ticket and MRT pass have similar designs, which creates confusion among passengers. Passengers with MRT pass exit by touching the card at the gate. While passengers with one-way ticket need to insert the ticket in the slot at the exit gate,” Dhaka Metro said.

As the design of the two cards is similar, the one-way ticket holder tends to follow the MRT pass holder and touches the ticket instead of inserting it into the exit gate slot. This causes the exit door to sound an alarm and thus becomes inoperable for a period of time. As a result, a traffic jam of passengers is often experienced at the exit gate, the statement said.

According to DMTCL, one-way tickets have been modified to distinguish them from MRT passes and to streamline passenger management, mainly for their convenience.

“I hope this will put an end to the deliberately widespread confusion regarding the design of MRT one-way tickets,” DMTCL said.

The DMTCL claims that already, more than 2,00,000 one-way tickets have been lost as passengers tend to take them with them when they leave the station.

Previously, 50,000 of them had changed color to make it easier to differentiate with MRT passes. “But it was of no use,” said Dhaka Metro.

Later, it was decided to purchase new tickets and change their design as the number of one-way tickets decreased. On January 30, a letter was sent to the consultancy firm to take necessary steps to collect 4 lakh tickets. Then, on July 28, the new design of the one-way tickets was communicated to the entrepreneur.

Finally, on November 1, the project owner provided 20,000 one-way tickets with a new design.

So first there was a color change which didn’t really work. Later, a design change with the promise of a less chaotic rendering. Now we are waiting to see how smooth our train journey across the city will become.