'Stay tuned,' MBTA General Manager Phillip Eng says to those who've lost faith in T
BOSTON - Phillip Eng officially took over as the new MBTA general manager Monday promising to "solve problems" at the troubled transit agency and to "move this place forward."
Eng, an engineer with decades of experience running public transit systems, was hired last month by Governor Maura Healey. He's the former president of the Long Island Rail Road and one-time interim President of New York City Transit.
He rode the Green Line to Park Street on his first day on the job Monday and then met with reporters. He visited a bus maintenance facility at Cabot Yard in South Boston in the afternoon.
"To people who have lost faith in the T, I tell them, stay tuned," Eng said. "We have a lot of work to do to restore the service to where it should be."
The MBTA, which oversees the nation's oldest subway system as well as commuter rail, bus and ferry service, has come under intense scrutiny in recent years for a series of safety issues that led to a federal review and orders to fix the problem.
Eng said he has several priorities to juggle - "safety, reliability, communication."
He'll be talking to staff throughout the MBTA about changing the culture.
"If we're going to hire more people, I need to know what they like about their jobs. I also need to know what's challenging about their jobs," he told reporters Monday.
Former Massachusetts Transportation Secretary Jim Aloisi told WBZ that Eng needs to tackle multiple issues at the same time in order to successfully improve the T. "We need to walk and chew gum at the same time," Aloisi said.
Among those issues are the slow zones, staffing problems, an operating budget shortfall and the implementation of a Capital Investment Plan.
"I would hope that he can make a metric of saying we're going to eliminate slow zones on at least 75% of the subway by Labor Day and then tell us how," Aloisi said.
Aloisi said Eng also needs the support of an MBTA Board appointed by Governor Healey.
"Without a board that reflects this administration's policies, a new more active and engaged board, I think Phil Eng is at an immediate disadvantage," he said.
HISTORY OF PROBLEMS
Recent problems have included the death of a subway rider last April who was dragged along a platform when his arm got stuck in a malfunctioning subway car door. Nine people were injured in September 2021 when an escalator at a station malfunctioned, and more than two dozen people went to the hospital in July 2021 when a Green Line train rear-ended another trolley.
Last July, a subway train caught fire as it was crossing a bridge north of Boston, prompting one passenger to jump into the Mystic River and others to scramble out of windows.
Even before that fire, the Federal Transit Administration last June issued four "special directives" that required the MBTA to better staff its operations control center; improve track maintenance; address unintended and uncontrolled train movements in maintenance facilities and rail yards; and ensure that all employee training certifications are up to date.
"You have to believe, you have to have a vision and we do," Eng said. "Once they start to hear the plan and we put that plan on paper, publicly share it, people will see that we have a strategy and then you'll start to see meaningful improvements. It'll be slow at the beginning, but as you start to see them come, I think people will regain their trust."
As interim president of NYC Transit, he was integral in initiating and implementing the $836 million plan to fix aging infrastructure and improve performance. As President of the MTA Long Island Rail Road from 2018 to 2022, he turned around on-time performance and oversaw the implementation of technology that improved the accuracy of train arrival time estimates.
Steve Poftak, the MBTA's previous general manager, stepped down in January just before Healey took office. Jeff Gonneville has served as interim general manager and assisted with the transition to new management.
"We're going to solve problems and we're going to move this place forward," Eng said Monday. He revealed he's been using the T for four years while his daughter goes to Northeastern.
"We're all in a rush and I understand time is precious to everybody, but I enjoy mass transportation, that's why I took this role and I want everyone else to start enjoying it too," he said.
Associated Press writer Mark Pratt contributed to this report.
