Metro Rail’s Online Recharge System Crashes on First Day Under Heavy User Load

The Metro Rail’s online recharge system became inoperative on the very first day due to overwhelming user pressure. On Tuesday, 25 November, just four hours after the service’s launch at noon, the website rapidpass.com.bd collapsed following 700,000 hits.

By the afternoon, users trying to register or recharge through the designated website found it completely non-functional. The page displayed the message: “An unexpected error has occurred! Please try again later.”

Those who managed to attempt earlier said that even after entering the correct OTP (One-Time Password), the system marked it as incorrect. In several cases, the OTP worked only after multiple attempts. Similarly, the card number was also shown as invalid, though the system allows no more than five attempts to enter the card number.

From the afternoon onward, users tried repeatedly but failed to access the recharge service, increasing public frustration.

The site was developed by DataSoft Systems Bangladesh Limited. According to sources, during the test launch, the system was designed to handle a maximum of 2,500 concurrent visitors and 130 concurrent recharge attempts. However, between 11 a.m. and 3 p.m. on Tuesday (25 November), the site received nearly 700,000 hits within just four hours, resulting in the breakdown.

The service is coordinated by the Dhaka Transport Coordination Authority (DTCA). When contacted, DTCA’s Executive Director (Additional Secretary) Nilima Akhter said that the excessive pressure on the first day likely caused the issue. She added that the website’s capacity will be gradually increased and that work is underway. “Hopefully, the issue will be resolved soon,” she said.

DBTech/RT/IK/OR