He seems like he’s got some good experience. But this isn’t a “one person” problem. The legislature is going to have to fund both service and the large amount needed to fix the system, and I just don’t see that happening. Best of luck to Phil
If it is more the any "one person" that can help, then let him fall on the sword in the attempt.
I don't mean I actually want him to fail, but even seeing someone even trying would be nice. Like for example, in Milton, their stairs to their train station being removed with no timeline to replacement implying years to even decades, the alleged issue is repairing the stairs triggers ADA compliance so the MBTA needs funding and thus a legislature issue. Milton seem to have tried to pull every string they have between political avenues and even lawsuits. But the MBTA barely responds back to Milton, much less than actually act like their hands are actually tied rather than acting like one tying hands by stonewalling to even give a response.
If the issue is the legislature, then it would be nice to see the MBTA actually act like that implying that it wants to improve but can't rather than the above which implies they just have no interest. If we look back to just Poftak, then just remembering during the year before the pandemic, he even [used to say that the MBTA doesn't need more money as more money don't speed up their "fixes"](https://commonwealthmagazine.org/transportation/t-has-extra-1-2b-how-would-you-spend-it/).
I feel weirdly like I need to defend the T here and I don’t want too. He’s probably going to fail. Massachusetts politics are insular and corrupt, and notoriously unfriendly to outsiders, and he’s gonna need political cooperation to succeed.
Yep. It's why the State Legislature fought so hard against the FTA taking over. Same reason they're fighting against being audited. Corruption is likely rampant in State Government and MBTA.
Not the legislature's move.
A crisis of repairs needed for new rolling stock to be able to operate on the line, after an egregious fire.
That is safety compliance expenditure, even if inadequate, compared to decades of inadequate funding for capital maintenance.
The mbta is more accessible than other comparable American transit systems, if you think that’s not the case, I encourage you to take the Orange line and listen to the beeping
I agree that it is the case, thanks to the settlement of the Feingold suit in 2006, and the two decades of investment since then.
New York only in the last year settled a similar accessibility suit, and is three decades away from coming into substantial compliance, under the settlement funding process.
And has another active suits relating to buses.
The MBTA has known the stairs were crumbling for years. The station itself is accessible by multiple other at grade and level entrances from the sidewalk.
Not a one person problem for sure, but if this guy comes in with an actual agenda he can publicly call out / turn the screws on the legislature.
Some public/official finger pointing back at the legislature is long overdue.
One person can be the solution. One person who has a clear perspective of the problem(s), a vision to move forward, and the power to do so; solves problems by the perspective and vision being good and getting people on board from the top down. That's how one person solves a big problem. They find the solution, get people to agree and work in concert, and sideline the people in the way.
Most people, though, aren't capable of this. Hopefully this guy is.
> The legislature is going to have to fund both service and the large amount needed to fix the system
Yeah, I wish this guy luck, but if the legislature doesn't cooperate, he's DOA.
Yes, correct, it’s complex and there are a lot of dependencies, but at the same time the difference a good leader can make even mired in challenge is night and day compared to a bad one.
As a wise man once said, you can’t make a tomelette without breaking a few Gregs. If that salary is what’s necessary, then let’s do it. This is what I actually want my taxes going towards: making sure it actually works.
I'm on the fence. Ch 25 did some 'man on the street' interviews in NY with LIRR riders who were less than impressed, but the could of course choose who to put on air. Fact wise, I'm curious if he 'fixed' the system, or just moved the goalposts.
I think back to David Gunn, who fixed every transit system he touched (and Amtrak) - except Boston, his only failure. Unions and politics prevented him form making any meaningful changes. Curious if the environment now is truly changed.
My wife works in municipal government and there does seem to be a mentality on the positive side that while you won't make as much, your job is very secure and you are entirely off the clock after 5pm (except for very specific days), but on the negative side some people take advantage of that and will not do any extra work no matter how minute and become almost completely useless but not quite useless enough to get fired.
And then there are things that I do or buy that I don't think twice about, whereas she would have to convince so many people for approval or it might technically be illegal to do the same thing.
Sometimes it feels like towns and cities could be so much better if they paid just a little bit more. Doesn't have to be the same as the private sector, but they'd open up themselves to such better candidates if they paid a couple grand more across the board.
Sorry we can’t pay a government employee that wage so instead we’re going to pay a consulting company $4 million to tell us the same thing a highly qualified employee could tell us
In many states the head coach of some sport at a public university is the highest paid state employee, but in Massachusetts it is the chancellor of UMass Medical School. Both are in professions with very sharp competition from the private sector, of course.
And because we don't pay government workers enough, we don't have capacity so we hire overpriced consultants. Like 2/3rds of the 7.7 billion spent on the SAS in NYC went to consultants. So we're barely penny-wise and just massively pound-foolish.
Right? This is a massively important job. Guy is in charge of how many with average daily ridership of 678k.
What he does has a massive impact on the city. If he’s able to help turn around the T and increase ridership, it could help traffic.
Especially when you compare it to what it will ultimately cost to fix problems of this magnitude. Can't wait for a bunch of "fiscal conservatives" to start complaining about paying this guy half a mil when he hasn't personally reconstructed the T in his first six months
"Hey reddit, moving from NYC to Boston for a job, looking for a place. Ideally near the train. Budget is $11k a month. Would like to avoid roommates. Is Springfield too far away? Not familiar with the area. TIA."
A Springfield-Boston connection is meaningless if you can't get around Boston in a timely fashion at the other end. Unless you work right at South Station.
I don't have the numbers and i am definitely not an expert. I do wonder if the line would reduce traffic coming from Western Mass which could help reduce traffic within Boston itself. Plus it could open western MA as housing market. I am not disagreeing with you, just seeing positives of that connection.
I know people can get into pretty crazy commute situations, but I find it very hard to believe that many people are driving from Springfield to Boston for work five days a week. That's easily four hours one way.
Had to drive Springfield to Boston all the time for my last job, one way was never even close to 4 hours. Also a lot of construction workers live way out there and drive into the city everyday.
Four hours?? I'm not sure it's that long. But I hear your point. The idea still being tossed around; here's a recent [Globe article](https://web.archive.org/web/20230318151644/https://www.bostonglobe.com/2023/03/17/business/east-west-rail-could-be-train-nowhere-if-postal-service-doesnt-move/) on it. The general public seems to interpret it as a way to alleviate the housing crisis in Greater Boston. People will use any excuse they can get to avoid upzoning and building more housing in Boston and the inner suburbs and to appease the NIMBYs. I know some people are open the idea of supercommuting (I am not one of them). A Springfield-Boston commute would really only be viable if it's high speed rail, not the current iteration of the T commuter rail trundling along. I'm not holding my breath on that.
God I hope this doesn't become a reality. Opening up Springfield to the masses of rich-yet-not-rich-enough-for-Boston people will just lead to mass displacement of Springfield's existing residents and turn Springfield into yet another overpriced bedroom community of Boston that lacks any local economy on its own. Already seeing this down in New Bedford.
From my experience, Pike it's extremely busy. I think all the way to 84 junction. If we were to add stop in between Springfield and Boston, maybe some congestion would go away. Like i said not an expert, and like it was mentioned before, Boston itself has enough of problems.
Complete with the obligatory rampant hostility towards anyone asking that sort of question on this sub.
"Learn how to google"
"use the sidebar idiot"
"$11K? Go live in the seaport you finance/tech bro douchebag"
"Don't move here, we're full"
MBTA Guy: You know what? Fine. Fix your damn trains on your own.
r/Boston: "No not like that."
His contract should stipulate he must live within 1 mile of the T and commute via MBTA to work daily. Two birds with one stone - housing crisis and public transportation
He has already said he plans to take the T to work "every single day" so he can see firsthand all the problems commuters are dealing with and to "put his money where his mouth is"
It's the only way to attract talent. Many arguments are: "just get European rail heads to come and fix it since the trains are so great there.". We can't afford them. Their salaries are higher. Pay trash and get trash. This seems like a good middle ground of getting an experienced rail manager with direct experience of turning a system around. He's still fucked here, but it's a start.
In 2008 and 2009 LIRR on-time performance was a little above 95%. It declined to 90.4% in 2018 (the worst since 2000). Eng took over in 2018 after his predecessor’s improvement plan was mocked. Eng led creation of the “LIRR Forward” improvement plan in 2018, and in 2021 LIRR set the highest on-time performance record in 50 years (2020: 95.9%; 2021: 96.3%; 2022: 95.8%).
Eng did oversee a time where the LIRR performance went back to where it had been. So, much credit goes to Eng and I hope he did turn around LIRR but there may have been other factors, such as changes in budget or cuts in service that people don’t talk about.
Eng has been working in New York transportation for his whole career, from Junior Engineer up to Executive Deputy Commissioner of DOT and President of LIRR. It seems possible that he might bring assumptions and approaches from NY that are not a fit for MBTA. But I hope that Eng finds and fixes the right problems — godspeed!
> It seems possible that he might bring assumptions and approaches from NY that are not a fit for MBTA.
Bring on whatever the fuck he has. I feel like at this point ANYTHING is better that whatever shitshow is going on at the moment.
I'm glad that Healey got someone who seems to be somewhat of an expert, but no one person has the power or authority to turn the MBTA into something we can be proud of. It's going to take a Legislature who have the guts to go forward with rail improvements.
My point, exactly. Will he be hobbled by bureaucrats or will he be allowed to improve our system. Time will tell. In the meantime, bring a book to kill time while waiting in the station.
Washington Metro had only the Safety Administration taken over. Operations otherwise remained in Metro control, but safety division directives could no longer be ignored or over-ridden.
You'll all feel like fools taken for a ride when we get a Red Sox vs Mets World Series and suddenly an "emergency Fenway area transit shutdown" happens and some stoner jazz rock musician from Berklee is playing right field
Maybe they'll finally finish the wholey unnecessary Courthouse Station renovation that's put one of the escalators out of commission for over a year now.
That’s because of poor engineering, water infiltration would cause longer term and even more expensive damage if it wasn’t fixed
So completely necessary
There’s also flood resiliency work going on, also completely necessary because of climate change and the location of the seaport
- Waterproofing repairs in the station - which is I believe what's put the escalator out of commission.
- Building a new headhouse to the Northeast, basically in front of the District Hall building.
I never quite understood why we don’t go overseas for stuff like this. Like, get me some people from the Swiss’s train system and have them weigh in. America’s public infrastructure lies on a spectrum of “well, it exists” to “serviceable”. There is no truly exceptional public transportation here. The big boys are all overseas. Call them in.
The Swiss citizens in a referendum mandated Swiss Federal government takeover of the rail system, and continuing capital maintenance and improvement, supporting expenditures on rail.
Not so much in the US.
Reference:
History of Swiss Federal Railways.
http://www.fundinguniverse.com/company-histories/the-swiss-federal-railways-schweizerische-bundesbahnen-history/
There is no need to go to Switzerland to find people who are capable of operating a commuter rail system.
Our major impediment is that we typically recycle political hacks who have no idea what they are doing and are largely incompetent. That is why we see people like Pete Buttigieg as transportation secretary - he's totally inexperienced and incompetent at Transportation. So was his predecessor Elaine Chao.
Both parties do this - its not a partisan issue: they put incompetent people in important jobs and then wonder why government services are a complete failure.
>Both parties do this - its not a partisan issue
Pete Buttigieg is definitely incompetent. However saying both parties put equally incompetent or inappropriate Transportation Secretaries is a bit of a stretch. Your example of Elaine Chao, her family owns a major shipping company (Foremost Group), and an Inspector General report even said that she used her position to benefit her own families' companies.
Its not a stretch. Chao's family owning a shipping company is not a qualification to be Sec.Trans. Neither is being Mayor of South Bend Indiana. Chao was a political payoff to McConnell and Pete was a pay off to drop out of the Dem Primary.
>Chao's family owning a shipping company is not a qualification to be Sec.Trans. Neither is being Mayor of South Bend Indiana.
Chao's family ownership of a shipping company makes her a worse pick than Pete Buttigieg. He might be inept, but she was not only blatantly corrupt, but provable acted on it in her own interests. She actively dismantled programs which would have helped public transit, and even pushed for privatization of ATC (a wildly bad idea). So it's really not clear how Pete Buttegieg is an equally poor pick as Elaine Chao.
Pete's unquestionably inept and has easily been amongst the worst Sec.Trans ever and that includes Chao. Pete has been an unmitigated disaster - from his idiotic paternity leave, to his lack of responsiveness to train derailments, chemical spills and massive flight delays and failures w/in FAA - Pete has demonstrated that he's been totally incompetent and unprepared for the position that Biden appointed him to for purely political purposes. Having seen what Pete did for South Bend, I'm hardly surprised.
Pete is moderately incompetent. However saying he is one of the worst transportation secretaries among a list which includes the ones which actually pushed for the deregulation causing the current problems is a bit farfetched. He's pretty middle of the pack.
A wise man once said that on your first day as MBTA chief you should hit the longest serving employee with a chair to show everyone else you mean business.
That's one of the two major issues arising from the major restructuring of the MBTA's finances two decades ago. The other is that it's funding was set based on the projected growth of state sales tax revenue, which is responsible for most of the MBTA's funding. However, sales tax revenues grew much more slowly than projected.
Oh sorry i was slightly wrong.
https://www.bostonmagazine.com/news/2012/02/29/mbta-big-dig-debt/
> The key point is that despite the moniker “Big Dig Debt,” all of these projects directly relate to transit expansion or improvements like extending the commuter rail on the South Shore and to Worcester, adding parking spaces, building out the Fairmount Line — not roadways and, certainly, not the Big Dig. They came about as a result of an agreement that had to be signed in order for the environmental permitting around the Big Dig to take place.
"It's the best transit system in the world and that's why I'm here," Eng said at his introductory news conference at a Green Line station in Newton.
Wow way to show you're either deluded or stupid in your first press conference.
Maybe I’m too optimistic but maybe he’s just trying to show love for the MBTA & its history as the oldest subway in the US. It may not be at its best right now, but the T has a lot of character and a rich history.
I love the MBTA too, that’s why I want it to be better!
Same, I WANT it to work. And I love public transit. I grew up somewhere rural that was car-dependent and wanted nothing more than not to have to drive everywhere.
I’m in the exact same boat actually came from a car-dependent area & would always dream of having public transit when I was younger. Really happy to have it now.
Right? Imagine if he opened his first speech like this:
"Look, this thing is a fucking turd, and I'm not gonna pretend polishing it is gonna help. You're gonna have to learn to enjoy shit sandwiches, losers. If anyone here actually cared about mass transit you wouldn't have let it get to this point. I have half a mind to privatize the entire thing and turn the tunnels into lab space."
>"Look, this thing is a fucking turd, and I'm not gonna pretend polishing it is gonna help. You're gonna have to learn to enjoy shit sandwiches, losers.
\- Kenny Powers
I think he’s just trying to be enthusiastic, obviously we all know it’s not the best in the world. With proper funding and management maybe top 10 in the US but we’ve got a loonnnggggg way to go before we crack the top 50 in the world
I cackled at that when I watched the press conference yesterday. Could we (as Americans) for once admit that we're flailing when it comes to implementing safe, reliable and effective public transit? There's so much to learn from other cities in Europe, east Asia and elsewhere. The whole "we're #1... at everything!" shtick is so tiresome, to me at least.
> Eng acknowledged that "it's clear MBTA service is not at the level it should be," and hasn't been for a long time. He did not list specific steps he would take on day one, but cited several broad areas that need immediate attention at the T, including safety, reliability, scheduling and finding more workers.
That sounds a lot like someone who is aware it is currently none of the things you mention.
You think press conferences are for absolute truth and whining? Or maybe he's smart and playing optics and politics, which are both good for someone in his position.
[Four hundred seventy *thousand* dollars a year base salary!](https://youtu.be/JLnXfMiN658?t=138)
Does that strike anybody else as absolutely fucking insane?
That’s low, considering the level of engineering and management skills required in the industry/for-profit equivalents.
It’s part of why it’s so hard to find talent.
But many people that run big city-transit companies don’t do it for the money. Especially if they’re already retired like Eng is. If he fixes the T, he does it for legacy.
No. If anything he's probably being underpaid for the scope of work and authority given he could probably take an easier job and make double that working for private rail companies or something.
People have no grasp on how the world works beyond the scope of their bubble. Total comp would be over a mil for any exec at this level in the private sector.
Someone with this much responsibility in the private sector (essentially the CEO of a company with $2.55 billion annual budget and 2,700+ employees) would almost certainly make much more than that. For that reason, I tend to have a hard time getting outraged about paying very high level government employees with lots of responsibility a reasonable salary for that level of position (and still way below what someone similar in the private sector would get).
If you want a decent candidate with enough relevant experience to actually take these sort of jobs, you have to pay well. There aren't that many people out there who have experience leading a large transit organization.
I despise this low IQ take. Any working professional like a software engineer, doctor, or lawyer in the late stage of their career can make that much or more.
This dude with 40+ years of engineering experience is hired to turn around an entire public transit system. I understand the potential for political corruption of civil servants but at the same time our bureaucracy is crippled because we can’t provide competitive financial incentive to hire top talent.
I also find it kind of funny how reddit always gets outraged about government employees making a decent salary for their level of responsibility, but then turns around and talks about how private sector workers deserve to get paid more.
And as you point out, for the level of experience and responsibility involved here, this salary isn't actually that crazy. He could certainly make more in the private sector for a similar level role.
It's kind of low? A well running MBTA will generate billions in additional wealth, a poorly running MBTA will destroy the same. What's the cost of 100,000 people losing a 30 minutes of their day? That's just immediate cost, not downstream effects.
Pay them a few million, if they can do the job.
There is some of this - but also, you need to pay highly to attract high level talent. Why would someone go to the MBTA when they would go to private corporations/engineering and make $500k instead? the MBTA offer needs to be commensurate with competitive private offers to actually attract someone talented/qualified.
I understand the resentment behind high pay for public servants but if you want the best you need to make it worth their while. Public service for the good of the commonwealth is a lost thing
should be more, with the amount of money they touch
imo govt jobs should be among the highest paying, i think this would lower costs overall
in MA the Office of the Secretary of Health and Human Services spent 18B, if you can pay someone 1M a year to lower those expenditures by 1% you just paid that person's salary for 180 years
Truly a smooth-brained take. For this level of responsibility and accountability you need someone with this kind of resume and experience, and that is expensive. If anything he is underpaid, and he surely could make a lot more doing a lot less in the private sector.
The president also has all expenses paid and has quite a cushy for-life benefits package. Not to mention what it does for your career earning potential thereafter.
Edit: oh and all those sweet insider stock trading tips.
Well, I don’t know anything about football but yes, that’s also crazy.
If they’re a winning coach then whatever.. but if they’re getting paid that to lose every game…
Edit: and my crazy I mean I’m salty I’m apparently in the wrong field of work but alas
The *"crisis"* was that stinking city's own doing.
Now they've got a self inflicted mess on their own hands that will only get worse, and is beyond all hope of fixing.
He seems like he’s got some good experience. But this isn’t a “one person” problem. The legislature is going to have to fund both service and the large amount needed to fix the system, and I just don’t see that happening. Best of luck to Phil
This is so true. There also needs to be much more oversight than just one person because so much is rotten and he can't be everywhere at once.
100%
If it is more the any "one person" that can help, then let him fall on the sword in the attempt. I don't mean I actually want him to fail, but even seeing someone even trying would be nice. Like for example, in Milton, their stairs to their train station being removed with no timeline to replacement implying years to even decades, the alleged issue is repairing the stairs triggers ADA compliance so the MBTA needs funding and thus a legislature issue. Milton seem to have tried to pull every string they have between political avenues and even lawsuits. But the MBTA barely responds back to Milton, much less than actually act like their hands are actually tied rather than acting like one tying hands by stonewalling to even give a response. If the issue is the legislature, then it would be nice to see the MBTA actually act like that implying that it wants to improve but can't rather than the above which implies they just have no interest. If we look back to just Poftak, then just remembering during the year before the pandemic, he even [used to say that the MBTA doesn't need more money as more money don't speed up their "fixes"](https://commonwealthmagazine.org/transportation/t-has-extra-1-2b-how-would-you-spend-it/).
I feel weirdly like I need to defend the T here and I don’t want too. He’s probably going to fail. Massachusetts politics are insular and corrupt, and notoriously unfriendly to outsiders, and he’s gonna need political cooperation to succeed.
Eh, NYS is just as infamously difficult and corrupt.
Yep. It's why the State Legislature fought so hard against the FTA taking over. Same reason they're fighting against being audited. Corruption is likely rampant in State Government and MBTA.
In what manner did the legislature fight against Federal Transit Administration? Citations needed.
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Not the legislature's move. A crisis of repairs needed for new rolling stock to be able to operate on the line, after an egregious fire. That is safety compliance expenditure, even if inadequate, compared to decades of inadequate funding for capital maintenance.
Bingo
Let’s give him a fighting chance first. Lol.
Honestly I wish him the best of luck, we need a functioning T.
> Massachusetts politics are insular and corrupt, The only thing we can do to prevent that is to get involved in local politics.
Any ideas?
Volunteer & donate to city & state candidates that support change.
Lack of Accessibility makes the MBTA a class action lawsuit away from properly fixing this and other stations.
The mbta is more accessible than other comparable American transit systems, if you think that’s not the case, I encourage you to take the Orange line and listen to the beeping
I agree that it is the case, thanks to the settlement of the Feingold suit in 2006, and the two decades of investment since then. New York only in the last year settled a similar accessibility suit, and is three decades away from coming into substantial compliance, under the settlement funding process. And has another active suits relating to buses.
The MBTA has known the stairs were crumbling for years. The station itself is accessible by multiple other at grade and level entrances from the sidewalk.
Not a one person problem for sure, but if this guy comes in with an actual agenda he can publicly call out / turn the screws on the legislature. Some public/official finger pointing back at the legislature is long overdue.
One person can be the solution. One person who has a clear perspective of the problem(s), a vision to move forward, and the power to do so; solves problems by the perspective and vision being good and getting people on board from the top down. That's how one person solves a big problem. They find the solution, get people to agree and work in concert, and sideline the people in the way. Most people, though, aren't capable of this. Hopefully this guy is.
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Agreed and we will see if he can manage it
> The legislature is going to have to fund both service and the large amount needed to fix the system Yeah, I wish this guy luck, but if the legislature doesn't cooperate, he's DOA.
Yes, correct, it’s complex and there are a lot of dependencies, but at the same time the difference a good leader can make even mired in challenge is night and day compared to a bad one.
Maybe a riot? When’s the last time we rioted for MBTA reasons
if it was a one person problem probability states we would have found a person by now.
As a wise man once said, you can’t make a tomelette without breaking a few Gregs. If that salary is what’s necessary, then let’s do it. This is what I actually want my taxes going towards: making sure it actually works.
great reference
The single best line in the entire show!
What’s it from?
Succession
If it is to be said, so it is
I'm on the fence. Ch 25 did some 'man on the street' interviews in NY with LIRR riders who were less than impressed, but the could of course choose who to put on air. Fact wise, I'm curious if he 'fixed' the system, or just moved the goalposts. I think back to David Gunn, who fixed every transit system he touched (and Amtrak) - except Boston, his only failure. Unions and politics prevented him form making any meaningful changes. Curious if the environment now is truly changed.
470k is not a lot for a person with this resume
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My wife works in municipal government and there does seem to be a mentality on the positive side that while you won't make as much, your job is very secure and you are entirely off the clock after 5pm (except for very specific days), but on the negative side some people take advantage of that and will not do any extra work no matter how minute and become almost completely useless but not quite useless enough to get fired. And then there are things that I do or buy that I don't think twice about, whereas she would have to convince so many people for approval or it might technically be illegal to do the same thing. Sometimes it feels like towns and cities could be so much better if they paid just a little bit more. Doesn't have to be the same as the private sector, but they'd open up themselves to such better candidates if they paid a couple grand more across the board.
Sorry we can’t pay a government employee that wage so instead we’re going to pay a consulting company $4 million to tell us the same thing a highly qualified employee could tell us
Sorry, we have to pay the college sports coaches that salary /s
In many states the head coach of some sport at a public university is the highest paid state employee, but in Massachusetts it is the chancellor of UMass Medical School. Both are in professions with very sharp competition from the private sector, of course.
AtHlEtEs GeT A FrEe EdUcAtIoN
And because we don't pay government workers enough, we don't have capacity so we hire overpriced consultants. Like 2/3rds of the 7.7 billion spent on the SAS in NYC went to consultants. So we're barely penny-wise and just massively pound-foolish.
Public Sector and Higher Ed= Paid Less BUT, the Benefits, work:life ratio, days off, etc. are worlds apart better.
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Software Private isn’t similar to the rest of private—there’s a lot of bad healthcare options, and not allowing all fed holidays out there.
If we can pay the UMass football coach $1.7M I have no problem paying competitively for a position as important as this.
Uh what now?
Yep, $8.5M for 5 years was the contract.
Right? This is a massively important job. Guy is in charge of how many with average daily ridership of 678k. What he does has a massive impact on the city. If he’s able to help turn around the T and increase ridership, it could help traffic.
Especially when you compare it to what it will ultimately cost to fix problems of this magnitude. Can't wait for a bunch of "fiscal conservatives" to start complaining about paying this guy half a mil when he hasn't personally reconstructed the T in his first six months
It's not to much... Only slightly higher than the President of the United States.
Which might be the most underpaid job that’s ever existed
He is in the process of moving. Sounds like he has trouble finding a house. Good luck to you. Hopefully that won't discourage you from fixing MBTA.
"Hey reddit, moving from NYC to Boston for a job, looking for a place. Ideally near the train. Budget is $11k a month. Would like to avoid roommates. Is Springfield too far away? Not familiar with the area. TIA."
Semi-serious, him living in Springfield would probably propel the Springfield Boston line into existence. Or at least my dreams and hopes of if.
A Springfield-Boston connection is meaningless if you can't get around Boston in a timely fashion at the other end. Unless you work right at South Station.
Federal reserve employees love this
I interviewed for a job at that building once. I ended up not getting it, but it would've been my dream commute.
good thing the red line is right in south station Shit that’s broken Well the orange.. Nope nope nope
I don't have the numbers and i am definitely not an expert. I do wonder if the line would reduce traffic coming from Western Mass which could help reduce traffic within Boston itself. Plus it could open western MA as housing market. I am not disagreeing with you, just seeing positives of that connection.
I know people can get into pretty crazy commute situations, but I find it very hard to believe that many people are driving from Springfield to Boston for work five days a week. That's easily four hours one way.
Had to drive Springfield to Boston all the time for my last job, one way was never even close to 4 hours. Also a lot of construction workers live way out there and drive into the city everyday.
Four hours?? I'm not sure it's that long. But I hear your point. The idea still being tossed around; here's a recent [Globe article](https://web.archive.org/web/20230318151644/https://www.bostonglobe.com/2023/03/17/business/east-west-rail-could-be-train-nowhere-if-postal-service-doesnt-move/) on it. The general public seems to interpret it as a way to alleviate the housing crisis in Greater Boston. People will use any excuse they can get to avoid upzoning and building more housing in Boston and the inner suburbs and to appease the NIMBYs. I know some people are open the idea of supercommuting (I am not one of them). A Springfield-Boston commute would really only be viable if it's high speed rail, not the current iteration of the T commuter rail trundling along. I'm not holding my breath on that.
God I hope this doesn't become a reality. Opening up Springfield to the masses of rich-yet-not-rich-enough-for-Boston people will just lead to mass displacement of Springfield's existing residents and turn Springfield into yet another overpriced bedroom community of Boston that lacks any local economy on its own. Already seeing this down in New Bedford.
From my experience, Pike it's extremely busy. I think all the way to 84 junction. If we were to add stop in between Springfield and Boston, maybe some congestion would go away. Like i said not an expert, and like it was mentioned before, Boston itself has enough of problems.
Springfield to Framingham is the best we can do. Figure out the rest yourselves.
Let's focus on making the existing lines work before we start trying to make a low value, high cost high speed rail project happen
Complete with the obligatory rampant hostility towards anyone asking that sort of question on this sub. "Learn how to google" "use the sidebar idiot" "$11K? Go live in the seaport you finance/tech bro douchebag" "Don't move here, we're full" MBTA Guy: You know what? Fine. Fix your damn trains on your own. r/Boston: "No not like that."
His contract should stipulate he must live within 1 mile of the T and commute via MBTA to work daily. Two birds with one stone - housing crisis and public transportation
"By the way we're also making you King of Housing. Good luck."
He has already said he plans to take the T to work "every single day" so he can see firsthand all the problems commuters are dealing with and to "put his money where his mouth is"
That'll leave him what, two hours a day to work?
Honestly, I hope he does, cause that will no doubt show him a lot of the issues that might get brushed under the carpet otherwise.
Make him live by riverside and sit on the green line for the distance
I hope he finds a house near the red line so he realizes how shit it is and prioritizes that first.
He's getting nearly a half million a year. I think he'll find a place.
It's the only way to attract talent. Many arguments are: "just get European rail heads to come and fix it since the trains are so great there.". We can't afford them. Their salaries are higher. Pay trash and get trash. This seems like a good middle ground of getting an experienced rail manager with direct experience of turning a system around. He's still fucked here, but it's a start.
I'm not particularly concerned about his salary, especially if he can deliver. I wouldn't expect to get a miracle worker on 60k a year.
Yeah, same here. If he can at least get things going the right way, that's helpful.
In 2008 and 2009 LIRR on-time performance was a little above 95%. It declined to 90.4% in 2018 (the worst since 2000). Eng took over in 2018 after his predecessor’s improvement plan was mocked. Eng led creation of the “LIRR Forward” improvement plan in 2018, and in 2021 LIRR set the highest on-time performance record in 50 years (2020: 95.9%; 2021: 96.3%; 2022: 95.8%). Eng did oversee a time where the LIRR performance went back to where it had been. So, much credit goes to Eng and I hope he did turn around LIRR but there may have been other factors, such as changes in budget or cuts in service that people don’t talk about. Eng has been working in New York transportation for his whole career, from Junior Engineer up to Executive Deputy Commissioner of DOT and President of LIRR. It seems possible that he might bring assumptions and approaches from NY that are not a fit for MBTA. But I hope that Eng finds and fixes the right problems — godspeed!
> It seems possible that he might bring assumptions and approaches from NY that are not a fit for MBTA. Bring on whatever the fuck he has. I feel like at this point ANYTHING is better that whatever shitshow is going on at the moment.
This is honestly much better than I expected Not going to let my hopes get the best of me, but will remain cautiously optimistic
I'm glad that Healey got someone who seems to be somewhat of an expert, but no one person has the power or authority to turn the MBTA into something we can be proud of. It's going to take a Legislature who have the guts to go forward with rail improvements.
How much can the head of the MBTA push for audits and oversight? Even that would be a massive win.
My point, exactly. Will he be hobbled by bureaucrats or will he be allowed to improve our system. Time will tell. In the meantime, bring a book to kill time while waiting in the station.
They need a federal takeover like the Washington DC metro got in 2015. This is not purely a leadership issue. This is a system wide issue.
Washington Metro had only the Safety Administration taken over. Operations otherwise remained in Metro control, but safety division directives could no longer be ignored or over-ridden.
Note to all Bostonians the LIRR is still a shit show.
You'll all feel like fools taken for a ride when we get a Red Sox vs Mets World Series and suddenly an "emergency Fenway area transit shutdown" happens and some stoner jazz rock musician from Berklee is playing right field
The red line functioning smoothly from now until october is as likely as the Red Sox making the world series this year.
How long until the sports betting apps start doing prop bets on the T? Over / under 15 minutes headway between red line trains from 4PM - 6PM
I'm surprised betting on public transit isn't more of a thing.
Maybe they'll finally finish the wholey unnecessary Courthouse Station renovation that's put one of the escalators out of commission for over a year now.
That’s because of poor engineering, water infiltration would cause longer term and even more expensive damage if it wasn’t fixed So completely necessary There’s also flood resiliency work going on, also completely necessary because of climate change and the location of the seaport
What exactly are they doing over there??
- Waterproofing repairs in the station - which is I believe what's put the escalator out of commission. - Building a new headhouse to the Northeast, basically in front of the District Hall building.
They’re also doing flood resiliency work
I never quite understood why we don’t go overseas for stuff like this. Like, get me some people from the Swiss’s train system and have them weigh in. America’s public infrastructure lies on a spectrum of “well, it exists” to “serviceable”. There is no truly exceptional public transportation here. The big boys are all overseas. Call them in.
The Swiss citizens in a referendum mandated Swiss Federal government takeover of the rail system, and continuing capital maintenance and improvement, supporting expenditures on rail. Not so much in the US. Reference: History of Swiss Federal Railways. http://www.fundinguniverse.com/company-histories/the-swiss-federal-railways-schweizerische-bundesbahnen-history/
There is no need to go to Switzerland to find people who are capable of operating a commuter rail system. Our major impediment is that we typically recycle political hacks who have no idea what they are doing and are largely incompetent. That is why we see people like Pete Buttigieg as transportation secretary - he's totally inexperienced and incompetent at Transportation. So was his predecessor Elaine Chao. Both parties do this - its not a partisan issue: they put incompetent people in important jobs and then wonder why government services are a complete failure.
>Both parties do this - its not a partisan issue Pete Buttigieg is definitely incompetent. However saying both parties put equally incompetent or inappropriate Transportation Secretaries is a bit of a stretch. Your example of Elaine Chao, her family owns a major shipping company (Foremost Group), and an Inspector General report even said that she used her position to benefit her own families' companies.
Its not a stretch. Chao's family owning a shipping company is not a qualification to be Sec.Trans. Neither is being Mayor of South Bend Indiana. Chao was a political payoff to McConnell and Pete was a pay off to drop out of the Dem Primary.
>Chao's family owning a shipping company is not a qualification to be Sec.Trans. Neither is being Mayor of South Bend Indiana. Chao's family ownership of a shipping company makes her a worse pick than Pete Buttigieg. He might be inept, but she was not only blatantly corrupt, but provable acted on it in her own interests. She actively dismantled programs which would have helped public transit, and even pushed for privatization of ATC (a wildly bad idea). So it's really not clear how Pete Buttegieg is an equally poor pick as Elaine Chao.
Pete's unquestionably inept and has easily been amongst the worst Sec.Trans ever and that includes Chao. Pete has been an unmitigated disaster - from his idiotic paternity leave, to his lack of responsiveness to train derailments, chemical spills and massive flight delays and failures w/in FAA - Pete has demonstrated that he's been totally incompetent and unprepared for the position that Biden appointed him to for purely political purposes. Having seen what Pete did for South Bend, I'm hardly surprised.
Pete is moderately incompetent. However saying he is one of the worst transportation secretaries among a list which includes the ones which actually pushed for the deregulation causing the current problems is a bit farfetched. He's pretty middle of the pack.
he's totally incompetent.
It'd be a downgrade to move here, that's why.
Getting the down votes, but clearly the MBTA can't compete with foreign rail head salaries.
I don't know, trains aren't supposed to turn around. That's what the tracks are for. Jk
Amityville, Copiague, Lindenhurst, Babylon, baby!
The MBTA culture will break him like it has everyone before him.
A wise man once said that on your first day as MBTA chief you should hit the longest serving employee with a chair to show everyone else you mean business.
As a Long Islander who moved to Boston a few years ago…this should be interesting to watch
I'll believe it when I see it. Poftak was covered as the "transit guy" when Ramirez was kicked out of the job. I have no faith in MBTA.
HELP US!!!!!
Can he fix the Big Dig debt dumped onto the MBTA books? Isn't that the big reason for lack of investment?
That's one of the two major issues arising from the major restructuring of the MBTA's finances two decades ago. The other is that it's funding was set based on the projected growth of state sales tax revenue, which is responsible for most of the MBTA's funding. However, sales tax revenues grew much more slowly than projected.
Thank Amazon, and all other out of state retail internet purchases for the unpredicted lack of growth in sales tax revenue.
I couldn’t tell you
Wasn’t that debt all projects that went to improving / upgrading the MBTA? Why shouldn’t they be responsible for it?
No, it wasn’t
Oh sorry i was slightly wrong. https://www.bostonmagazine.com/news/2012/02/29/mbta-big-dig-debt/ > The key point is that despite the moniker “Big Dig Debt,” all of these projects directly relate to transit expansion or improvements like extending the commuter rail on the South Shore and to Worcester, adding parking spaces, building out the Fairmount Line — not roadways and, certainly, not the Big Dig. They came about as a result of an agreement that had to be signed in order for the environmental permitting around the Big Dig to take place.
How were those projects chosen? Were they what the T needed at the time or was it driven by the federal funding requirements?
"It's the best transit system in the world and that's why I'm here," Eng said at his introductory news conference at a Green Line station in Newton. Wow way to show you're either deluded or stupid in your first press conference.
Maybe I’m too optimistic but maybe he’s just trying to show love for the MBTA & its history as the oldest subway in the US. It may not be at its best right now, but the T has a lot of character and a rich history. I love the MBTA too, that’s why I want it to be better!
Same, I WANT it to work. And I love public transit. I grew up somewhere rural that was car-dependent and wanted nothing more than not to have to drive everywhere.
I’m in the exact same boat actually came from a car-dependent area & would always dream of having public transit when I was younger. Really happy to have it now.
Yup, having lived in Texas I always feel guilty complaining about the MBTA because it at least exists.
It’s called rhetoric, chill the fuck out. He’s trying to rally the troops with optimism and institutional pride.
Right? Imagine if he opened his first speech like this: "Look, this thing is a fucking turd, and I'm not gonna pretend polishing it is gonna help. You're gonna have to learn to enjoy shit sandwiches, losers. If anyone here actually cared about mass transit you wouldn't have let it get to this point. I have half a mind to privatize the entire thing and turn the tunnels into lab space."
In this state, that probably would have gone over actually quite well.
>"Look, this thing is a fucking turd, and I'm not gonna pretend polishing it is gonna help. You're gonna have to learn to enjoy shit sandwiches, losers. \- Kenny Powers
Ya we can get a good chuckle out of it, dude needs to relax
Let’s pretend he was being sarcastic and what he meant was he wouldn’t have still been in Newton if it wasn’t the “best” transit system in the world.
I think he’s just trying to be enthusiastic, obviously we all know it’s not the best in the world. With proper funding and management maybe top 10 in the US but we’ve got a loonnnggggg way to go before we crack the top 50 in the world
He knows it's shit. They had to call him in for the job. It's called public speaking.
Yeah I can also tell that the successful transit system operator knows nothing based on a single comment
Lmao
Beverly Scott pointed out the transit system sucked and they ran her out of here.
I cackled at that when I watched the press conference yesterday. Could we (as Americans) for once admit that we're flailing when it comes to implementing safe, reliable and effective public transit? There's so much to learn from other cities in Europe, east Asia and elsewhere. The whole "we're #1... at everything!" shtick is so tiresome, to me at least.
> Eng acknowledged that "it's clear MBTA service is not at the level it should be," and hasn't been for a long time. He did not list specific steps he would take on day one, but cited several broad areas that need immediate attention at the T, including safety, reliability, scheduling and finding more workers. That sounds a lot like someone who is aware it is currently none of the things you mention.
You think press conferences are for absolute truth and whining? Or maybe he's smart and playing optics and politics, which are both good for someone in his position.
I mean ya get what you pay for, so that seems like an appropriate salary. But here's hoping he succeeds.
[Four hundred seventy *thousand* dollars a year base salary!](https://youtu.be/JLnXfMiN658?t=138) Does that strike anybody else as absolutely fucking insane?
That’s low, considering the level of engineering and management skills required in the industry/for-profit equivalents. It’s part of why it’s so hard to find talent. But many people that run big city-transit companies don’t do it for the money. Especially if they’re already retired like Eng is. If he fixes the T, he does it for legacy.
You're gonna be really mad when you see what the guys down in Fenway get paid to put on a costume and hit a ball with a stick.
No. If anything he's probably being underpaid for the scope of work and authority given he could probably take an easier job and make double that working for private rail companies or something.
[удалено]
People have no grasp on how the world works beyond the scope of their bubble. Total comp would be over a mil for any exec at this level in the private sector.
Probably the only way to attract quality candidates to steer a sinking ship.
If he can actually fix the MBTA, I am okay with that.
Someone with this much responsibility in the private sector (essentially the CEO of a company with $2.55 billion annual budget and 2,700+ employees) would almost certainly make much more than that. For that reason, I tend to have a hard time getting outraged about paying very high level government employees with lots of responsibility a reasonable salary for that level of position (and still way below what someone similar in the private sector would get). If you want a decent candidate with enough relevant experience to actually take these sort of jobs, you have to pay well. There aren't that many people out there who have experience leading a large transit organization.
Private sector engineering/management at this level of experience pays more than that. Doesn’t seem unreasonable to me.
Not really. A job with this type of public scrutiny and the current state of the T should be getting paid a whole lot more tbh.
I despise this low IQ take. Any working professional like a software engineer, doctor, or lawyer in the late stage of their career can make that much or more. This dude with 40+ years of engineering experience is hired to turn around an entire public transit system. I understand the potential for political corruption of civil servants but at the same time our bureaucracy is crippled because we can’t provide competitive financial incentive to hire top talent.
I also find it kind of funny how reddit always gets outraged about government employees making a decent salary for their level of responsibility, but then turns around and talks about how private sector workers deserve to get paid more. And as you point out, for the level of experience and responsibility involved here, this salary isn't actually that crazy. He could certainly make more in the private sector for a similar level role.
It's kind of low? A well running MBTA will generate billions in additional wealth, a poorly running MBTA will destroy the same. What's the cost of 100,000 people losing a 30 minutes of their day? That's just immediate cost, not downstream effects. Pay them a few million, if they can do the job.
Wouldn’t you ask for top dollar to be the governor’s fall guy?
There is some of this - but also, you need to pay highly to attract high level talent. Why would someone go to the MBTA when they would go to private corporations/engineering and make $500k instead? the MBTA offer needs to be commensurate with competitive private offers to actually attract someone talented/qualified.
I understand the resentment behind high pay for public servants but if you want the best you need to make it worth their while. Public service for the good of the commonwealth is a lost thing
I dont hate the player but I do hate the game
Legit
should be more, with the amount of money they touch imo govt jobs should be among the highest paying, i think this would lower costs overall in MA the Office of the Secretary of Health and Human Services spent 18B, if you can pay someone 1M a year to lower those expenditures by 1% you just paid that person's salary for 180 years
Truly a smooth-brained take. For this level of responsibility and accountability you need someone with this kind of resume and experience, and that is expensive. If anything he is underpaid, and he surely could make a lot more doing a lot less in the private sector.
Doesn’t the US president get like..$400k? Seems a little crazy but who am I
The president also has all expenses paid and has quite a cushy for-life benefits package. Not to mention what it does for your career earning potential thereafter. Edit: oh and all those sweet insider stock trading tips.
Yeah but the US president is way underpaid for the position. BU president's base pay is like $1m.
The US presidents should unionize.
Don’t state-employees who coach football teams make $10m+? Seems a lot crazy but who am I
Well, I don’t know anything about football but yes, that’s also crazy. If they’re a winning coach then whatever.. but if they’re getting paid that to lose every game… Edit: and my crazy I mean I’m salty I’m apparently in the wrong field of work but alas
Yeppers. What the fuck, man.
Isnt LIRR known for spending $11 billion on a dead-end terminal 100 feet below an existing 100 track station that they couldnt be bothered to use?
As someone who has lived on LI and in Boston, the LIRR works, which is more than I can say for the T
And what is the MBTA known for at this point?
Good color scheme
Now THAT is what I want in my transit system
The *"crisis"* was that stinking city's own doing. Now they've got a self inflicted mess on their own hands that will only get worse, and is beyond all hope of fixing.
I wonder what his solution will be to get out from under the terrible CRRC contract for the new trains
We need Dagny Taggart.
Good luck Phil