Want free Galaxy S3? Take a Dubai bus

In a move to increase the number of people commuting by bus, the Roads and Transport Authority (RTA) is rounding off a month-long competition, which selected one bus rider each day as the winner of a Samsung Galaxy S3.

Any passenger who checked in and out of a public bus in Dubai between December 14 and January 14 automatically became eligible for the competition, explains Ahmed Mohammed Al Hammadi, Director, Bus.

"Twenty-one people have already been selected as winners of the Galaxy S3, and the remaining 9 will be selected in the coming days," he added.

The aim of the competition is to encourage people to commute by bus, as the Public Transport Agency target for 2013 is to lift its market share to 13 per cent of all transportation means, explains Ahmad.

"We are aiming for a 13 per cent market share of bus, Metro and marine ridership. This has nothing to do with increasing profit; it means that we want to encourage people to use public transportation."

In which ways RTA plans to encourage the use of public transportation and that of the public bus in particular, is still unclear.

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