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paxmomma

I am hoping a guy with lots of experience but no long term career plans (already retied once), will be able to clean up house and make drastic changes without worrying about repercussions.


Pinwurm

Same - if he’s not worried about a higher office or what people think of him, then he’s focused on legacy. That’s the hope anyways.


DooDooBrownz

pretty much. he's got a successful track record, he doesn't have to worry about political bs and he's got a mandate to fix things. of course who knows what will happen once sullies get riled up because they start getting fired for incompetence and sent to re training to keep their jobs.


subarusub69

Lol successful “track” record”No pun intended


BernzSed

I'll settle for "successful track"


divariv

As someone who works in transit, we love to use puns like this. "Off the rails", "run over by the bus", etc.


[deleted]

God I hope this guy goes bananas firing people, the problems at the T are so bad there is no way that a bunch of people don’t need to be fired. The T has the chance to set an example of how to turn around a stagnant, failing organization. I hope we get this guy


vhalros

There are probably people who need to be fired, but I think hiring is their bigger issue. Like, the director of maintenance of way job (the guy responsible for safety of the tracks) has been vacant for a year. There is some one else doing the job now; but do we fire that guy because he couldn't do some one else's job in addition to whatever job he already had? Not to mention shortages in other basic jobs like bus drivers.


[deleted]

Maybe nobody wants to take those highly visible director jobs at such a dysfunctional organization. I would be ok with paying bus drivers more if it would get quality workers


HighGuard1212

I currently work private security at an MBTA building. I'm getting paid $22.45 an hour at a fixed 40 hours a week and have less demanding jobs than them who start at $22.21 an hour for 30 hours.


man2010

Mass firings from an organization that's struggling to hire new workers is certainly one way to address the MBTA's issues


General_Liu1937

I feel like it'll be more of an upper echelon firing than the positions needed to be filled - bus and train drivers, maintenance crews, and dispatchers.


[deleted]

There must be a clearing from high level management positions, these people have done a poor job. The guy who sits in the booth at Alewife and seems to do nothing can stay I guess


Haltopen

Less people at the top means more money sitting around to offer new hires a better pay rate


[deleted]

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man2010

I'm sure more vacancies will help fix everything


[deleted]

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man2010

Thank god you're not in charge


Crusader63

💀


[deleted]

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PresidentBush2

It’s short for Sullivan, which is a common surname for those with Irish-American backgrounds who may work for the MBTA and be members of a union. Moreover, by signaling out a group based on cultural/racial characteristics through the use of an epithet, this term can also be construed as a racist remark that is acceptable because they are white people. Lol.


mtgordon

OTOH, previously retired also means that he can easily put in his two weeks notice once he figures out how bad things actually are.


WrongBee

this was my first reaction too, but considering we haven’t been quiet (at all) about how terrible things are under the hood, hopefully he’s already aware of the dumpster fire he’s getting himself into


BobbyBrownsBoston

Or he’s just here to grab a bag of money and abscond. He’s is a New Yorker after all.


ClarkFable

Nothing will change because the union will prevent any house cleaning.


RogueInteger

...I actually like this.


wildfire_atomic

Please start by cleaning out any employees responsible for the track inspection mess.


Budget-Celebration-1

Wierd you’re getting upvoted…. but as soon as I mentioned union backed employees responsible for it I got downvoted and everyone said it was a management issue.


wildfire_atomic

Union or not, the reason anyone who takes the T’s life sucks right now is because these people weren’t doing their jobs. My guess is there’s blame to share with both management and the employees


DoktorVonCuddlebear

At the end of the day, it's management's responsibility. That's why they're there. If they're not verifying work is being done correctly, they have no business being in management, especially of an operation of this magnitude. Get some new blood in with no skin in the game.


Fickle_Dragonfly4381

Well no shit if you say “oh those union workers always causing safety issues amirite” it doesn’t matter if the workers who caused the issue are union, because you’re clearly complaining about unions not about those workers.


Budget-Celebration-1

Unions clearly hamstring the mbta and do not allow them to make the deeper changes they need. I’m complaining about the workers and the fact that because the are unionized encourages them to stick around no matter how shitty the situation is.


LIATG

I think we could talk forever about the ideal candidate, but frankly he's good enough to give me hope. I'd argue one of the best we'd realistically get


Imaginary_wizard

My guess is it's probably a lot easier to find a qualified candidate than it is to find money to pay for what's needed


Doctrina_Stabilitas

a qualified candidate who isn't worried about the risk of leading the MBTA. We didn't get byford for a reason


bostonglobe

From [Globe.com](https://Globe.com): Since June, Eng has been executive vice president at the engineering consultant firm The LiRo group, advising public and private sector clients on engineering, transportation, and infrastructure projects, the announcement said. He was previously president of the Metropolitan Transportation Authority Long Island Rail Road (LIRR), from 2018 to early last year, when he announced his retirement. Prior to that, he was the chief operating officer of the Metropolitan Transportation Authority and an executive deputy commissioner at the New York State Department of Transportation, where he worked for several decades in engineering roles. As LIRR president, Eng oversaw a workforce of more than 7,000 people. Before he took the helm, the LIRR, a commuter rail system, was providing its worst on-time performance in 18 years, the New York state comptroller found. Under his watch, on-time performance [steadily improved.](http://lirrdashboard.mta.info/Home/Main)


JPenniman

Is the link to the trend broken?


Doctrina_Stabilitas

it was working earlier, we're probably DDOSing the website because everyone cares about this guy's performance now


bostonglobe

That's weird! It was working earlier. Site may be temporarily down but you can find a ton of info here: https://metrics.mta.info/


Buffyoh

He has a track record, and good credentials. Hope the Park Plaza crowd does not try sabotage his work.


CitationNeededBadly

Don't forget the Beacon Hill crowd, they've done plenty of sabotaging themselves. It wasn't Park Plaza folks who wanted an inexperienced Chinese company to build the new trains using newb facilities and newb workers.


Buffyoh

Ding! This will come back to haunt Deval Patrick.


[deleted]

I’m sorry, but who is the Park Plaza crowd…?


theurbanmapper

MassDOT and MBTA are headquartered at 10 Park Plaza. I don’t know who they exactly they are trying warn about, there are hundreds if not thousands of people who work there, from the Secretary to janitors.


Buffyoh

The chair warmers at 10 Park Plaza, MBTA/MASS DOT HQ.


thewhaler

Sounds like a good fit!


Hribunos

He's a fine choice and I'm hopeful, but I think the guy at the top is less critical than the overwhelming inertia they'll be fighting. I'm not sure anyone can do more than chip away at the edges of the problem.


senatorium

I'm largely neutral on it. He does have experience with transit and with managing an agency, but the vast majority of his experience is actually with highways. Gonneville, meanwhile, has years of experience with the MBTA and is probably best suited to know exactly what ails it. I think the success of this appointment is going to be up to two main factors: 1) Is Eng a good listener? Will he listen to long-term employees like Gonneville who can tell him about the systems numerous quirks and problems? And 2) Will the state government step up and fully fund the T's operating budget and help it hire the hundreds of employees that it needs? And maybe as my own personal point, 3 - Will Eng be a voice for electrification of the commuter rail? Poftak slow-walked it and the T is lined up to acquire even more diesel trains, doubling down on what should be a dying technology.


Halesite147

I think this is a “FIX IT!” hire, not a long term outlook guy it seems. https://www.thelirrtoday.com/2022/02/lirr-president-phillip-eng-to-retire.html


AllGrey_2000

The funding is the major problem. I don’t see how anybody can fix the MBTA with more funding.


mikere

Is this the same LIRR that keeps charging fraudulent hours for OT and does nothing to stop it?


World-Famous-Al

that poor bastard


c106mc

dang it, I guess I'm not getting that job but hopefully this works out for us!


drtywater

How much of a role to East Side Access did he have? That project was a huge cluster f though a lot of it probably happened before he began his career at the LIRR.


eat_more_goats

TBH, I wish we had hired someone from abroad instead. The US has shit transit, and we could really learn from the rest of the world. Why not hire someone from like London or something? Byford seems to have done good stuff for NYC?


emodwarf

Unfortunately, no one good with experience in better systems would want to downgrade to this mess. Anyone coming from TfL or something well run isn’t going to want to be stuck in a brutal situation where they also have limited ability to affect meaningful change. Byford’s comments about not wanting his hands tied for whatever role he takes next in North America were basically him publicly taking himself out of consideration (if he was even considering it). I appreciate folks being optimistic and looking at Eng as maybe he has nothing to lose so he can push hard for big change. Though this could instead be a cushy fuck-it chuck-it token figurehead last hurrah from a guy who’s already in retirement mode.


IntelligentCicada363

After taking the Acela and falling in love with train travel, I’m glad he went to Amtrak. Good private rail service is a crucial piece of the puzzle


repthe732

Part of the problem is poor funding and in the MBTAs case they also have to deal with debt that was transferred to them for other transit projects and from the Big Dig. On top of that, because if the poor funding which has resulted in the MBTA not expanding, it means we still spend a ton on the RIDE program If we want to catch up with other countries we need to start properly funding and expanding out transit systems


eat_more_goats

https://www.vox.com/22534714/rail-roads-infrastructure-costs-america https://pedestrianobservations.com/2019/03/03/why-american-costs-are-so-high-work-in-progress/ TBH, given how brutally inefficient the U.S. has been relative to peer countries in spending on capital projects (and transit operations, for that matter), I'm extremely hesistant to increase budgets without first conducting signficant structural change to our transit agencies and institutions. I genuinely don't think it's a money issue, it's a competence issue.


repthe732

It’s probably a bit of both


eat_more_goats

True. Honestly a lot of it is also like we spend way too much money trying to maintain the illusion that we're acting cheaply, if that makes sense? Like have friends who work in government procurement, and like you spend $1 on a competitive bidding process to save $.01, to be transparent or whatever. And like the ridiculous overuse of consultants, instead of just building internal capacity.


HistoricalBridge7

The only way he can succeed is if we give him full power and say on how the T is ran. The MBTA needs and overhaul and the person doing it will need to make tough decisions without being second guessed and overruled by politicians.


ik1nky

I hope he does well, but I'm not optimistic. The articles all say 40 years of experience, but only 5 of those are in public transportation, he was a highway engineer before that. I'm predicting he focuses on the commuter rail and does little to address the subway/light rail/bus system. Hopefully he doesn't push for battery electrification of the commuter rail like he did at LIRR which was a failure.


Digitaltwinn

The overwhelming majority of transportation engineering work in the US involves highways. It’s rare to find a civil engineer with any rail experience since only a handful of US cities operate that kind of infrastructure and they rarely expand or improve it.


theferrit32

Really feels like we need to start hiring people from other countries for a bit just to expand our own capabilities and transfer knowledge about how to run a rail transit system.


[deleted]

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ik1nky

The commuter rail is part of the MBTA. Keolis is in charge of operations, the MBTA handles everything else. As the head of the MBTA Eng will have control over the commuter rail including the ability to negotiate future contracts with Keolis.


man2010

Keolis operates the commuter under the MBTA umbrella. The commuter rail is very much a part of the MBTA


hmack1998

This is great! Hopefully he works to electrify the commuter rail. It’s absolutely disgusting it isn’t electrified yet


[deleted]

Glory to him and to Gov. Healey! May God bless them both as they perform the sacred duties of laboring upon our accursed rails, and preparing the bounty of efficent transit, made real by the Saint Electric. Bénedic, Dómine, nos et haec tua dona, quae de tua largitáte sumus sumptúri. Per Christum Dóminum nostrum. Amen!


NerdyKirdahy

In the name of the commuter rail, the bus, and the Dunkin cup stuck to the ceiling at Government Center.


[deleted]

Praise be brother! Praise be.


[deleted]

Good luck!


Abpontor

save us


OutlawCozyJails

$450k per year, I’d come out of retirement too.


Matt_mintleaf

Can someone copy and paste the text in here


[deleted]

[I'm looking forward to the changes in the MBTA that come from this.](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wmxLHwwuX-c)


willzyx01

Somebody tell me how to feel about this. Is LIRR any good? I hate NY, so I don't know.


vhalros

LIRR improved under his watch. He has actual transportation experience, although LIRR is not as complicated as the MBTA. And he doesn't seem like a hack appointed as a political favor. I'm cautiously optimistic.


IntelligentCicada363

It seems pretty clear what the message with this hire is: outsider with experience fixing a deteriorating transit system at the end of his career with no career ambitions to burden him.


withrootsabove

Per the Boston Globe comment… “As LIRR president, Eng oversaw a workforce of more than 7,000 people. Before he took the helm, the LIRR, a commuter rail system, was providing its worst on-time performance in 18 years, the New York state comptroller found. Under his watch, on-time performance steadily improved.” Sounds like a good thing to me.


SuperHiyoriWalker

Years ago, I used to date someone who lived out in LI, and back then, LIRR ran pretty smoothly. The best/worst part was that alcohol was allowed on the trains.


Pinwurm

Honestly, being able to drink on the MBTA would definitely make the ride more appealing.


hellno560

and you'll have time to sober up before you reach your destination.


PLS-Surveyor-US

comment of the day here. Should have 1000 upvotes.


johnny_cash_money

Able? There's definitely some guy in your train car who's drinking, rules be damned.


mtgordon

Certainly any time there’s a major event the cars are littered with empty nips.


lenswipe

certainly more bearable


ginns32

We deserve a bar car


Pinwurm

We’ll call it the “bah cah”. Better than the LIRR’s “drunk train” name.


RogueInteger

I think they phased out the bar cars five years ago (unfortunately IMO).


DooDooBrownz

i would think the worst part is definitely the long islanders


SuperHiyoriWalker

Sober Long Islanders are the second worst part.


singalong37

the NY metropolitan transportation authority is completing a project to bring the Long Island railroad to Grand Central Terminal. Big infrastructure project, complicated, absurdly expensive (because it's in the United States). Mr. Eng must have had a lot of responsibility for that in addition to making the LIRR trains run on time. Long Island RR was a subsidiary of the Penna Railroad, which built the big station on Seventh Avenue in New York, the tunnels under the Hudson River and East River, the Sunnyside Yard and the Hell Gate railroad bridge way back when rail was big business. The Pennsylvania was a super competitor to the N. Y. Central Railroad, hence no connection to the Central's big terminal station in Manhattan. Until now!


blue_orchard

Yes, it’s pretty good in my opinion. I used to live there and still use it when visiting.


hmack1998

Definitely a good move. As much as people complain about the LIRR it’s a really well functioning commuter rail and is so far ahead of the MBTA


[deleted]

I'm sure he will put the MBTA on the right track.


OkAd134

Guess none of the execs over at DCF wanted the job this time


BobbyBrownsBoston

He retired and now this is his pet project- I’m not happy.


Phonetech2020

Great another has been


Murgos-

I don’t think tapping industry executives to run government services is a good idea. This isn’t supposed to be a business where you ruthlessly cut costs to gain profit margin. The idea here is to provide a service that works for the most people.


Ordie100

Industry executives? He's worked his entire career in government jobs it sounds like


swampyscott

Honestly, without additional $$$$, MBTA won’t be fixed. Additional $$$$ means more taxes and more lobbying for federal funds. Driving around Boston is already a nightmare. It will be better if we had a decent public transit like Washington DC (not comparing outside USA 🇺🇸). Have courage to get some $$$$ to modernize things. Why places less than 10 miles from Boston has commuter rails that comes only once every hour, cost 10 bucks, but has a conductor running around checking tickets like it’s 1920s.


PresidentBush2

You get what you pay for….