Former MD of state transport corpn takes over as MTC chief

CHENNAI: The Metropolitan Transport Corporation (MTC) got a new managing director on Monday . V Paul Raj , the former MD of the state transport corporation , Villupuram , has replaced S Boopathy .
Paul Raj is not new to the job as he held the post of MTC MD from April 2009 to September 2010.
But being the MD has never been better . With the chief minister taking the difficult decision to increase the fares , union workers said the timing was perfect for Paul ."Passengers have recovered from the initial shock of increased fares and the revenue has more or less stabilised ," said a member of the state transport employees union (CITU).
With more and more people taking to private vehicles , expertssaidthecorporation's biggest challenge was to retain its current patronage .
"The MTC already has a very good patronage , so there is not much to work to do on that . The challenge is to retain them because the dependence on public transport has been dwindling ," said Shreya Gadepalli of Institute of Transportation and Development Policy . Around 56 lakh passengers use MTC buses daily .
Apart for the hike, the corporation has introduced a slew of measures to up the revenue . "MTC is planning to sell advertisement space on their vehicles and it will fetch them up to . 100 crore annually ," said a source . Buildings on two of its terminals -- KK Nagar and Ayanavaram -- will be rented out for commerce .
With extra money pouring in , the officials said cleanliness was their priority . "Our most immediate challenge and our first aim is to provide clean buses to the passengers ," said a senior MTC official .
Paul Raj has been roped in at a time when the monorail works were struggling to get off the block. MTC is the nodal agency for monorail . Delay in the ruling party's pet projectcouldbethe reason for Bhoopathy's transfer .
Fortress Financial Services , the project consultant for monorail , said the transfer won't have a bearing on their works . "Transfers happen all the time in government ; it will not affect the process ," said an official from the firm .