At last week’s meeting with the Lynn Business Partnership (LBP), MBTA General Manager and CEO Phillip Eng spoke for an hour, responding to half a dozen questions. It’s not that he didn’t want to answer any more. Instead, his answers were so comprehensive, they covered all of the questions those in attendance were prepared to ask.
There is a lot about Eng that is impressive. There are his four decades of experience in transportation, including his time as the president of Long Island Rail Road and interim president of New York City Transit. Both are under the Metropolitan Transportation Authority, the premier public-transportation authority in the country.
There are the strides the MBTA has already made in his first six months in charge there. The ferry between Lynn and Boston, which Lynn city officials have advocated for since 2006, reopened a month before the Sumner Tunnel’s closure. The agreement between the MBTA and the city’s Economic Development & Industrial Corporation (EDIC/Lynn) for the use of the Blossom Street Pier came suddenly, after just a few weeks — and just two months into Eng’s tenure.
Lynn’s Commuter Rail station has been closed since October 2022 as it undergoes a renovation. A temporary platform for the station was originally going to open in September 2024, leaving the city without Commuter Rail service for almost two years. In June, Eng came to Lynn, saw the station, and talked to people from the community about the closure’s impact on the city. In August, the temporary platform’s opening had been moved up to March. But last week, the MBTA announced that it will instead open this December — cutting the city’s wait time for service by a stunning nine months.
At the December opening’s announcement last Wednesday, Eng said that after seeing the station in Lynn, he challenged his team to resume service there more quickly. It shows two things about him. The first is that Eng is not the type of leader willing to sit behind a desk in Boston and act based on reports. He is instead the kind who goes into communities the MBTA serves to see firsthand the issues that need to be addressed. The second is that Eng is capable of finding new, unexpected solutions to the region’s problems. In an agency that has typically avoided innovating, Eng’s creativity is a godsend.
For communities north of Boston, however, what might be most impressive about Eng is his understanding of the region’s priorities. In his meeting with the LBP, Eng emphasized that the frequency of Commuter Rail service to the city needs to be expanded. It’s very simple — without frequent service, people will just drive to their destinations, defeating the purpose of public transportation in the first place.
Eng said the MBTA will continue to explore the development of electric rail for the area. An electrified system would allow for much more regular service and help reduce traffic. It would also bring down pollution in two ways — by getting more cars off of the road, and by halting the diesel fumes Commuter Rail trains currently emit.
The MBTA’s service to this area is vital for its economic development. Kids from this area who cannot afford cars or Boston rents don’t have reliable access to the city’s educational institutions or work opportunities. It’s not just about people commuting to Boston for the day, either. Recent graduates living in Boston who get jobs north of the city have to navigate a maze of connections between different buses and subway lines to get to their work. If this region is more accessible to Boston’s workforce, it will also become more attractive for businesses. Ultimately, these communities are not going to reach their full economic potential unless the MBTA can provide them with dependable and frequent service.
Of course, Eng can’t celebrate just yet. The MBTA’s reputation is not going to be improved overnight, and there is a long way to go before this area has frequent Commuter Rail access. He doesn’t deserve all the credit for the last few months, either, as the state delegation and Lynn officials were strong advocates for the ferry and an expedited schedule for the temporary platform. But for the first time in a long time, this area is looking at the MBTA with hope. It’s not just because Eng is accomplished, capable, and creative. It’s also because he’s listening to us.
