Just lately introduced MBTA Normal Supervisor Phillip Eng. (Courtesy Workplace of the Governor)
Phillip Eng, a longtime engineer and former president of the Lengthy Island Rail Highway, will turn out to be the following prime chief on the MBTA as Gov. Maura Healeys administration goals to place the troubled transit company on a firmer footing.
Healey’s workplace introduced Monday morning that it has agreed to phrases with Eng, who’s retiring from the LIRR in February 2022 after 4 years on the helm, through which the commuter rail system reported its greatest on-time efficiency ever. The state pays for his providers, as Eng might earn greater than $500,000 a yr.
His appointment concludes a months-long search course of that started earlier than Healey was sworn in.
Phil Eng is the confirmed chief the MBTA wants to enhance security and reliability all through the system and restore public belief, Healey mentioned in an announcement. He understands {that a} functioning transportation system is important to a functioning financial system and has a observe report of taking on struggling public transit programs and dramatically bettering service. He additionally takes a collaborative method to his work and maintains open strains of communication with clients, workers, companies, native officers and communities.
It’s scheduled to begin on the MBTA on April 10, taking on a service at a time when service continues to deteriorate, post-pandemic ridership is languishing, finances gaps loom on the horizon and hiring efforts to deal with staffing shortages have stumbled .
Eng may even be chargeable for guiding the MBTA by means of its ongoing response to the Federal Transit Administration’s investigation in recent times, which highlighted a variety of security dangers, together with an enormous backlog of upkeep.
In an announcement launched by Healey’s workplace, Eng mentioned it is time for a brand new manner of doing enterprise on the MBTA.
As an engineer, a transportation skilled for 40 years and a commuter himself, Im laser centered on discovering modern options to advanced issues and approaching them with a way of urgency that all the time places the client first, Eng mentioned. I’m additionally dedicated to supporting the hardworking workers who preserve the MBTA operating and rising hiring to make sure we’ve got the workforce to supply the dependable service riders deserve.
Healey’s administration will make Eng one of many highest paid transport company chiefs within the nation, if not the highest earner.
Eng will obtain a wage of $470,000 and also will be eligible for an annual retention fee of $30,000 and a hit bonus value as much as 10% of his wage in July 2024, as much as 15% of his wage in July 2025 and as much as 20% of his wage of July 2026, a Healey spokesman mentioned.
That represents a big enhance over former MBTA Normal Supervisor Steve Poftak, who in 2022 acquired simply over $339,000 in base pay plus $78,585 in one-time bonuses.
We discovered this to be the precise stage to make sure we had been capable of appeal to sturdy candidates like Phil and compete with different main transport programs, Healey spokeswoman Karissa Hand mentioned.
Healey’s workplace on Monday declined to supply particulars on what number of candidates utilized for the job or what number of he personally interviewed.
The Larger Boston Chamber of Commerce beforehand urged Healey’s administration to pay for the T’s subsequent chief, suggesting a base compensation of between $450,000 and $500,000.
GBCC President James Rooney praised the complete bundle Healey offered to Eng, describing himself as happy the skipper was daring sufficient to face any criticism as a result of we want it proper now. He identified that, previous to Poftak’s four-year tenure, the T had gone by means of eight completely different basic managers in about 10 years.
The shortage of management stability is a part of the explanation we had been within the place. Locking somebody in by means of a retention bonus is vital and I am glad it is there, Rooney mentioned in an interview. It offers me the sensation that this isn’t an individual who will keep for a yr or two after which go away.
I hope a yr from now, two years from now, they had been paying each penny of that efficiency bonus as a result of meaning the enterprise neighborhood and commuters are getting what we deserve, he added.
A Fellow of the American Society of Civil Engineers, Eng spent a lot of his profession working for the New York State Division of Transportation in a variety of roles, together with development supervisor, chief engineer and govt deputy commissioner.
He joined New Yorks Metropolitan Transportation Authority, the nation’s largest transit company, in 2017 as CEO. Eng oversaw the procurement of a $540 million cell ticketing contract, in accordance with Healeys workplace, and served as interim chairman of New York Metropolis Transit, which runs town’s bus and subway providers.
In April 2018, Eng took the helm of the LIRR, one other division of the MTA, the place he managed 7,600 workers and an working finances of $1.6 billion. The MBTA finances this yr is about $2.55 billion.
Not like the T, which gives a mix of subway, commuter, bus, and ferry service, the LIRR operates solely commuter rail that’s primarily aimed toward connecting New York Metropolis and the myriad suburbs that stretch east on Lengthy Island.
Within the fourth quarter of 2022, the LIRR averaged almost 240,000 riders on a typical weekday, in accordance with information tracked by the American Public Transportation Affiliation. Throughout the identical interval, MBTA mild and heavy rail, commuter rail and buses mixed offered greater than 718,000 journeys on common each day.
He joined development and engineering administration firm The LiRo Group as govt vice chairman in August.
Eng is not any stranger to getting into the highest job at a transportation company in disaster.
His tenure on the LIRR started a month after New York Metropolis’s comptroller launched a report saying the company in 2017 had its worst on-time efficiency in 18 years.
Throughout Eng’s almost 4 years on the helm, the LIRR achieved its greatest on-time efficiency in 2020 after which broke that report once more in 2021, in accordance with Newsday. Each of those years noticed considerably diminished passenger site visitors on account of COVID-19.
U.S. Sen. Elizabeth Warren, who has been a vocal critic of Poftak, mentioned Monday that new management on the T is simply what Massachusetts wants.
I commend Governor Healey for her swift motion to rent an MBTA basic supervisor with a confirmed observe report of considerably bettering transit programs, Warren mentioned in a tweet. Devoted staff and on a regular basis riders deserve a protected and dependable T.
The MBTA GM search course of started in December, earlier than Healey was sworn in, when he tapped Krauthamer & Associates to guide a nationwide search.
It marks the primary main personnel announcement Healey has made in regards to the MBTA, aside from Transportation Secretary Gina Fiandaca, since her tenure started. Healey didn’t select to exchange any of the MBTAs board members, who apart from Fiandaca had been appointed by former Gov. Charlie Baker.
Healey has but to call a brand new head of transport security, a place it has mentioned it is going to create and fill by March 6.
Jeff Gonneville, a longtime MBTA deputy GM who has been serving as interim chief because the closing days of Baker’s administration, will stay on the T and assist with the transition to new administration, Healey’s workplace mentioned. The governor’s workplace didn’t specify what function Gonneville could have.
“Definitely on behalf of the MBTA and the MBTA staff, we had been excited to have a brand new basic supervisor be a part of the staff, and hell he will convey with him to our group many years of transit expertise, transit expertise, which they had been actually enthusiastic about,” Gonneville mentioned in a state finances listening to on Monday.
Eng, a Lengthy Island native, presently lives in Smithtown together with his spouse, Carole. He plans to maneuver to Massachusetts for his new job, in accordance with the Healeys workplace.
Healey, Lt. Capt. Kim Driscoll and Fiandaca hosted a information convention with Eng at 2:30 p.m. on Monday at Riverside Station in Newton.
Colin A. Younger contributed reporting.
