(MENAFN- Khaleej Times) Despite a strong push to get Dubai residents behind the city's eco-friendly campaign, reports suggest a lacklustre response to the third annual Public Transport Day.
In a city gunning for green, yesterday's big day, organised by the Roads and Transport Authority (RTA), seemed to have failed in roping in more public, with some describing traffic "like any other Thursday", and others reporting only a small increase in numbers of commuters on metro and bus services.
This was despite the RTA making all services free for Nol transport access card holders.
Students Sytelle D'sa, 17, Marie Aton, 16, and Aradhika Iyer, 17, said they were regular users of the metro but yesterday had seemed like just like any other day.
"We didn't notice an unusual crowd today at the Metro. We travelled on both the Green Line as well as the Red Line. But it was pretty much the same," Iyer said.
However, the RTA said it was pleased with the day's turnout, with at least 19,000 government staff members alone commuting on the public transport network, including the chairmen of those departments.
Official figures of numbers of commuters would not be released till this Sunday, though the authority had earlier said it was expecting 739,000 commuters across the day.
Public Transport Day project manager Hussain Mohammed Al Banna said the online campaigns, competitions and activities organised by the RTA had been "a huge success", with the Facebook campaign for best picture of Public Transport receiving over 180 entries.
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