Dubai: An Indian and an Uzbek walked away with Dh50,000 each in cash as winners of the most frequent public transport users in Dubai on Tuesday.
Uzbek national Anvar Zakirov and Sirajuddin Abdul Qader, from India, have both won the prize for the second time in a row.
Last year, Qader won two 50gm gold bars and Zakirov won a 50gm gold bar.
Qader, 35, works as a clerk at a document clearing firm and is glad he won big.
“I can’t believe my luck. Winning twice in two years is amazing. I never thought I would win for taking the metro for work,” said Qader, whose job requires him to use the metro up to 15 times a day.
Qader, who is from the southern Indian state of Kerala, plans to use the cash prize to build a house back home.
“This has come as a big boost for me as now I will be able to fulfil my dream of building a new house. With the salary that I earn it is not possible. I thank RTA for making it possible,” said Qader.
Zakirov, who works as an office assistant at a firm in Jumeirah Lakes Towers, prefers the metro to driving.
“I have a car, but I prefer the metro because of the convenience. Driving is an issue in JLT and Al Barsha, the difficulty in finding parking and peak hour traffic is bad. I reach quicker using the metro,” said Zakirov, who has been in Dubai for five years.
The prizes were given away as part of RTA’s Public Transport Day celebrations, which also saw a variety of activities, competitions and games.
Speaking to Gulf News, RTA’s Director of Rail Operations Mohammad Al Mudharreb said that public transport in Dubai has seen tremendous growth over the last 10 years and is on course to achieve a 20 per cent share of mobility by 2020.
“Public transport has continued to witness growth from a share of 6 per cent in 2006 to 15 per cent in 2015. With further expansion and continuous upgrade of the services we will be able to ensure more popularity of the metro and other means of transport,” said Al Mudharreb.
He said demand for metro services doubles during winter and that is why the frequency of trains was increased last week.
“We have introduced a new winter timetable and the response has been amazing. Response to early start of service on Fridays was also great with 20 per cent increase in ridership,” said Al Mudharreb.
He added that there are plans to further upgrade the services on the Green Line with the operation of additional trains.
“Usually we do at least two enhancements every year. We are working to tackle some operational challenges, particularly on the interchange stations, balancing the footfall between Red Line and Green Line, with more passengers on Red Line, we have a challenge accommodating these passengers on the Green Line. We are working on addressing this,” he explained.
