Alongkar Mor Bus Station, Chittagong

ripon0630 (80)in #steematlas-s28w3 • 6 days ago

Hello friends, I hope you are all well. For the 3rd week of the Steemit Challenge contest, I will be sharing my experience and a review of my visit to the Alongkar Mor Bus Station. I would like to thank the organizers of this challenge, and without further delay, I am starting my participation.

^{Edited in Canva}

Alongkar Mor Bus Station

Alongkar Bus Station is one of the most important transport hubs in Chittagong city and located at a key junction connecting Chattogram Division to the main highways of Capital City. Every day, thousands of people travel to various parts of the country using this station. It is also known to many as Alongkar Intersection.

Over the past few decades, it has rapidly developed into a major inter-district bus terminal. This Alankar Intersection serves as the primary hub for road communication between Chattogram and various other districts of Bangladesh. Due to this central role in transportation, it has gained widespread recognition.

On one side, the Dhaka Trunk Road, which connects the city, including the Chattogram Port area in the south and on the other, the exit route from the city connects to the Dhaka-Chattogram Highway at this intersection. Therefore, the Alongkar Intersection is widely regarded as the entry and exit point of Chittagong city.

The station's service hours are not restricted to any specific time. However, buses from reputable companies such as Saudia, Shyamoli, Shohagh, London Express, Green Line, etc., sell their tickets departure time from 5:30 AM to 12:30 AM. Besides these, several other bus services, operating under various names, provide services every 30 minutes, even late into the night.

Upon arriving at Alankar Intersection, bus counters for all services are visible on both sides of the road. Large signboards above each counter clearly display the destinations served by their buses, gives passengers to select the appropriate bus service according to their desired destination. While some bus services offer online ticket booking facilities, the majority of passengers still prefer to purchase their tickets directly from the counter.

Video of the Bus Counter

Each counter has ample seating arrangements for waiting passengers. Passengers arrive at the station before their bus is scheduled to depart for the destination, and the bus services provide seating facilities at the counters for their waiting comfort. Passengers can find washrooms within the counters; there are no separate public washrooms provided otherwise.

Below is a list of some bus services, ranked by their reputation:

Bus Service	Bus Type	Stars Based on Reputation
London Express	Sleeper, Business, Economy	⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
Green Line	Sleeper, Business, Economy	⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
Shohagh	Business , Economy	⭐⭐⭐⭐
Soudia	Business, Economy	⭐⭐⭐⭐
Shamoly	Business, Economy	⭐⭐⭐
Local/Unnamed Companies	Economy Class	⭐⭐

Although the government of our country has fixed the long-distance bus fare at 2.12 Taka per kilometer, most counters are often seen charging a slightly higher price for tickets. The fare for double-decker AC buses is much higher, regular AC buses are slightly less, and non-AC bus fares are comparatively the lowest among all tickets.

Many passengers opt for local company bus services for low-cost travel. The fares for these local-type buses are not fixed and vary from customer to customer. Separate prices are charged for Economy and Business Class tickets.

Below, I am mentioning the fare chart for AC and non-AC buses traveling from Chattogram to different districts.

Destination District	Distance	Non-AC Bus Fare	AC Bus Fare	Price USD Approx.
Ctg to Dhaka	250-300 Km	600-800 Bdt	1000-1200 Bdt	9-11 USD
Ctg to Sylhet	370-420 Km	900-1200 Bdt	1400-2000 Bdt	10-20 USD
Ctg to Rajshahi	450-500 Km	1000-1400 Bdt	1600-2200 Bdt	10-22 USD
Ctg to Cumilla	160-200 Km	300-500 Bdt	500-700 Bdt	3-5 USD

The station does have a few drawbacks. A notable one is that passengers using transport services are often defrauded by brokers. Some bus services do not have a counter, and their brokers charge different ticket prices for the same destination from different passengers. Additionally, they often make passengers wait inside the bus for a long time until all the seats on their bus are filled up.

Another disadvantage is the lack of a separate terminal for Bus Station. While reputable companies park their buses in their designated areas, due to the absence of a terminal, most buses are parked on the sidewalks on both sides of the road. This creates inconvenience for pedestrians using the footpaths, and parking on the main highway frequently leads to traffic congestion.

For security, some Traffic Sergeants constantly monitor the station. If any disagreement arises between a passenger and a bus contractor for any reason, the police intervene to resolve the issues. Security provisions are offered at the counters for storing luggage and while waiting, to prevent theft.

Although primarily known as a bus station, all other transportation options are also available here. Upon getting off the bus, you will find CNG, Rickshaws, local buses, rickshaws, auto-rickshaws, etc., to travel to other parts of the city. Additionally, passengers can also avail services like Pathao, Uber, bike rentals, and car rentals.

There are multiple mobile banking service shops bKash, Nagad, and Rocket—located next to the bus counters, gives passengers to withdraw or transact money anytime they need. Many hotels and restaurants are situated nearby, where passengers can utilize accommodation and dining facilities if desired.

Alongar Mor is known as a very old bus station, and since it is the crucial point for entering and exiting Chattogram city, thousands of people come to this station daily to avail travel services. I also use the services of this station for safe travel to other divisions or districts for my work.

Here's the Steem Atlas pin and other details

Place	Alongkar Mor
Place Type	Bus Station
Location	Dhaka Trunk Road, Alongkar, Kotwali, Chattogram-4000
Visiting Hours	24 Hours open
Ticket Price	Low to High, All category
Bus Counter Count	More than 50+
Google Plus Code	Link
Atlas-Map	[//]:# (!steematlas 22.3594375 lat 91.7818125 long Alongkar Bus Station, Chittagong d3scr)

Thank you to the organizers of this challenge. I invite my three friends, @edgargonzalez @dove11, @jyoti-thelight to participate in this beautiful challenge topic.

#transport-station #steem-atlas #chittagong #bangladesh #steemexclusive #busstation #contest