BOSTON — MBTA General Manager Phillip Eng sat down with Boston 25’s Catherine Parrotta to talk about what’s in store for transportation in Boston in 2026, how the city is preparing for the World Cup in July, and much more.
Parrotta: So, as you look on the past year alone, what are you most proud of when it comes to the MBTA and where it’s come?
Eng: It’s certainly a privilege to be a public servant and serve the Commonwealth here, one of the big things about that is the ability to impact people’s lives. And I’m really proud of the accomplishments we’ve had over the last few years accelerating work, delivering meaningful results, meaning safety related track improvement programs. But the other part of it is the employees. We’re over 8,000 now, have really taken pride in what they’re doing and really the end result is the public and the fact that we’re seeing them come back to use transit and that they’re most optimistic on where transit is headed, that really gives me the deep down feeling that it’s not only what I think is the right thing it’s the end user, it’s the community, it’s the businesses, and the people that we serve.
Parrotta: Let me jump to that, because I know back in October subway ridership really rebounded - you had the highest ridership on the subway since before the pandemic. Despite that, I do see the critics on social media I’m sure you’ve heard from the critics as well. What do you say to those who still doubt that the MBTA can be fast and reliable? What do you say to them?
Eng: Well I say we’ve only just started to scratch the surface. In just under three years, we have made tremendous improvements to the system. And this is talking about years and years of rebuiding this. We have a lot more to do that, and I want to say thank you to the patience that we’ve had from everyone. But they know, I want them to know, that we have a long way to go we’re going to stay viligent on this and I want them to feel proud of their system. So their input is invaluable to me, so I just want to say thank you to them too because that’s what I need - feedback.
Parrotta: And that brings me to my next question because I know you’ve made a lot in the way of improvements; you have farther to go as we look ahead to the new year waht can passengers expect? Are they going to be seeing more improvements more upgrades? Is there anything you can tell us about that we might be seeing the coming year?
Eng: Well, they’re going to see that we’re going to continue being aggressive, tackling the things that need to get done. We’re going to stay on top of the tracks because we’re not going to fall backwards, but we’re really focused on - 2025 was about getting our signals modernized, particularly the Red and Orange Line signals. Those contracts were awarded back in 2018. And when I took over, there wasn’t really any progress being done. 2-25 we had a lot of weekend outages on the Orange Line, Red Line, we have another coming up this weekend on Orange, but our commitment to them is since 2025 we want to finish this work in 2026 begore the world cup. Getting our Red Line, Orange Line signals modernized because it allows operatiosn to be much more efficient, quicker to respond, to keep trains moving, in the matter that allows them to count on the higher frequency more reliable trips and allow us to respond timely should something occur.
Parrotta: I know you’ve only been here in MA for a couple of years, but you have not only had a history with MA transit both in NY state and NY city, Long Island, that whole region. I have to ask - is there anything unique to our region, our city, our system that makes it unique in any way to what you’ve dealt with before?
Eng: Well I would actually say the whole Northeast region, some of the oldest infrastructure in the country but also subject to elements of the four seasons. I love the four seasons - but that also means we have winters we have to deal with, on the roads and bridge sides, salts - that’s essential for safety but it’s also something you have to monitor to keep your infastructure in good repair. And we’re also dealing with very dense urban areas, so in the northeast we’re moving thousands and thousands of people dailty and how do you keep a system maintained, how do you keep a system functioning, while you’re moving people that’s the key - it’s doing both, riding a bicycle while you’re changing a flat.
Parrotta; We heard about that while you talked about upgrades which was fascinating by the way to see the end result of that, speaking of people were getting a whole lot more of them coming in this summer for the World Cup and we talked a little bit about that a couple of months ago. How are preparations going for the World Cup in transit related to that?
Eng: Well, those are the types of events that make living in Massachusetts exciting. We have diverse culture, so many things to do, fantastic sports teams but the World Cup is a once and a lifetime event sometimes. And for us to be able to host it is fantastic. Work is moving right along, Foxboro build station is not only going to allow ius to serve over 20,000 oriented riders for the World Cup that are coming from across the globe, but it can also actually allow us to have long term ability to better serve that area, those events beyond the World Cup. We are also working very hard in terms of safety and security with all of our partners across all of the security agencies to ensure that when these people visit Massachusetts, they’re going to experience that is not only the best that they can have but safe and sound for them because not only what we want is to not only come for the world cup, but to come back and visit us another time and maybe even move here like I did.
Parrotta: It’s a great area, why not? And I have to mention you’re not just managing the MBTA lately just a couple of months ago you got that title of Interim Security of Transportation, is it like managing two sides of the same coin, is there a lot that kind of goes together with managing both of those agencies, what has been that experience like for you?
Eng: Well I do have a long history both of the DOT side, as well as the Mass Transit side, and the way I’ve always seen it - transportation...they go together whether it’s a highways or bridges or Mass Transportation. It’s the balance between all of those modes, including walking biking that fives us that multi model transportation that actually allows people to have the freedom to choose their modes, and one of the things we really need to do is to see ow I blend them together. I work with the municipalities but then I only work with the region transit authorities because no matter where you are in any part of the commonwealth or outside and wanting to visit, it’s all those pieces connected. So - it’s really allowing me to be able to leverage the successes and needs of both agencies to better deliver for all communities that we serve.
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