This repository contains a LaTeX research paper, a journal-style article, datasets, and Python analysis code for:

Implication of Zero Ticket Bus Travel (ZTBT) on Financial Management of Metropolitan Transport Corporation (MTC) (Chennai) Ltd.

The paper is now deliberately scoped to the financial-management question, following the structure of Section 5.1 of the OpenCity/Fiscal Policy Institute Shakti report: ratio analysis of the transport corporation, followed by physical-financial performance indicators. It does not estimate welfare, labour-force participation, GST feedback, tourism, or other non-financial effects.

• paper/main.tex - detailed research paper.
• paper/main.pdf - generated PDF version of the detailed research paper.
• article/journal_article.tex - shorter journal article derived from the research paper.
• article/journal_article.pdf - generated PDF version of the journal article.
• data/mtc_ztbt_financial_dataset.csv - audited annual financial and ZTBT reimbursement dataset.
• data/mtc_financial_management_model_dataset.csv - consolidated balance-sheet, liquidity, borrowing, cost-recovery and ZTBT reimbursement exposure dataset used in the revised paper.
• data/mtc_performance_indicators_2021_22_to_2025_26.csv - MTC public performance indicators.
• data/tn_demand48_transport_budget_ztbt_context.csv - Government of Tamil Nadu Demand 48 budget lines used to contextualise women free-pass reimbursement and Chennai bus-service contracting.
• data/source_register.csv - source links and data-availability checks.
• scripts/analyze_mtc_ztbt.py - Python analysis and chart/table generation.
• scripts/fetch_sources.py - optional source download/link-check helper.
• scripts/build_pdfs.ps1 - Windows helper that compiles the LaTeX sources with Tectonic.
• DATA_AVAILABILITY.md - explicit boundary between available and unavailable official data.

python -m venv .venv
.venv\Scripts\activate
pip install -r requirements.txt
python scripts/analyze_mtc_ztbt.py

The script writes derived CSV tables, optional Excel output, and figures under outputs/. The LaTeX files are self-contained enough to read without generated outputs, but the Python workflow is included so the numerical analysis can be regenerated from the CSV data.

The committed PDFs are compiled from LaTeX using Tectonic, giving normal Overleaf-style PDF output with citations, tables, cross-references, and embedded hyperlinks. To rebuild them locally, install Tectonic or place tectonic.exe at tools\bin\tectonic-0.16.8\tectonic.exe, then run:

powershell -ExecutionPolicy Bypass -File scripts\build_pdfs.ps1

This writes paper\main.pdf and article\journal_article.pdf.

MTC publishes category-wise reimbursement for Women Free Travel Concession from FY 2021-22 onward and audited balance-sheet data through FY 2024-25. It does not publish a consistent route/month-level zero-ticket dataset, passenger-kilometres, or reimbursement arrears by month in the checked public sources. The paper therefore treats ZTBT as a financial-management reimbursement, liquidity, cost-recovery and borrowing issue, not as a welfare evaluation.