Not sure if I should carry coins for public transport in Bangladesh or if card payments are common. Advice?
It was exciting to ride Dhaka’s new MRT Line 6. From Agargaon to Motijheel, I tapped my rechargeable MRT Pass each time. Buying it was easy - I used cash at the station booth, but I saw locals trying with cards too. The metro was clean, fast, and a huge improvement over the chaotic traffic outside. Buses were cheap too, but those were strictly cash-based. Overall, the metro is moving toward more modern payments, but I still carried taka for safety.
Transport in Dhaka is still messy. The metro was nice, but the ticket machine rejected my Mastercard. Staff told me to pay in cash taka only. On buses, I had to fight for a seat and hand small bills to the conductor. Breaking larger notes from the Dutch-Bangla ATM was a hassle, as conductors wouldn’t take 500 BDT bills. No real card culture yet, so tourists should definitely bring cash in small denominations.
I stayed near Banani and tried the new Dhaka metro. At Uttara North, I bought an MRT Pass with 200 BDT in cash. The machine had a card slot, but my Visa didn’t work. For buses to Gulshan, it was even more old-school - I paid cash directly to the conductor, and they handed me a paper ticket. Honestly, I had to rely on cash for everything, even though the metro felt very modern compared to the buses.
Dhaka recently opened its metro (MRT Line 6). You can buy a single-use ticket or a rechargeable card called MRT Pass. At stations like Uttara North or Agargaon, machines accept cash in Bangladeshi taka and sometimes cards, though many foreigners reported cards not working. Buses in Dhaka are mostly cash-only, with fares around 10-30 BDT. ATMs from Dutch-Bangla Bank and BRAC Bank are everywhere for cash.