Q.: How would you evaluate your first year of work as director of the municipal transport company? Have you managed to do all the things that you planned to do?
A.: I would put myself 4 points out of 5. We have done a lot - though I had expected we could do more. What we have done is we have made all our accountancy fully cashless - for earlier the salaries would be paid in cash, which was 100 million rubles a month! Another 40 million were paid for the material and technical supplies.
Now we have only about 100,000 rubles as our cash turnover - so all is transparent and under control. By the way, we have founded a centralized supplies department - to make our purchases cheaper and more controllable. What we have not managed to do was launch of the first three-carriage tram. I had wanted to have it last year, but had to postpone it until 2016.
Q.: Why do you want to hasten to launch a new tram?
A.: Both the passengers and our employees must see our targets, what is that we work for and why we are raising the fares. This should become a vivid announcement that our future must be better than the present.
That is why we are going to buy the first Vityaz (literally: Knight) tram at our own cost, with no money from the city budget. Yes, it would be very expensive for us, but now any tram or bus is expensive - so we must buy only contemporary models which will cover the expenses much quicker.
Q.: How would a three-carriage tram fit into the city’s street network?
A.: We have checked and calculated everything to see that it would fit the rails, the tram-stops and the turn circles. We have even thought of how it would get into the service shop. We were like sappers when clearing the mines: we could not make a mistake, for we had all the time been under the fire of critics. If there are no new trams, people say - how long will you ride those old jalopies?
But as soon as we were about to buy a new one, we got reprimanded for spending a lot of money from the budget. All are hard to please - so I have chosen my own concept with which I am moving on.
For I am really taking the risks by buying a Vityaz - if something would be going wrong, I would be the only one to blame. But if I didn’t take a decision now, it would never be taken. That’s how any novelty may be wrecked.
Q.: Free Wi-Fi in the trams - is it a promotion, a wish to show that we are ‘nothing worse than Europe,’ or a project well worth all the trouble?
A.: First, I am going to use all that may give the company a positive image. Yes, we are modern people, and we are keeping pace with our time. Second, we will necessarily be using all that will help increase the number of passengers.
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