Currently on the Green line with Phillip Eng
It's good to see MBTA leadership on a packed D line train commuting with everyone else, and sitting through a delay for a headway adjustment.
Posted Sep 5, 2023, 11:43 AM UTC
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Wonder if he was on my train. I was on the 8 a.m. from Park. Must’ve been on the other car.
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Honestly, this is great. And pretty much required in a situation like the MBTA is in.
Ride the lines. Use the service. See what is going on. Feel the pain yourself. Develop some empathy. Far too often the people making the calls in regards to transit are not using it. They often have state provided transportation. Governor certainly isn't taking the T into work every day. Things that the ordinary people rely on are pretty distant from their lives.
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It’s always great to see people getting out of the ivory tower and putting themselves in an ordinary person’s shoes. Now if only this could become the norm everywhere…
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100th like
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I used to also run into Rich Davey (now NYCT President) and Stephanie Pollack (now FHWA deputy administrator) on the T all the time since the Green Line was their regular commute into 10 Park Plaza. It's definitely reflective of their attitudes, even if it doesn't necessarily always directly translate to immediate changes or a better system. Dr. Bev Scott used to be driven most places, but she's still widely respected as a transit executive who listened to the perspectives of staff and put in as much time and dedication as she expected of others under her.
I am genuinely unsure what you are saying. I do recall Rich Davey was viewed positively at the end of his tenure as GM. But Pollack is now viewed very negatively or so I understand. I mean she did try to get GLX killed back when the FMCB still existed and the value engineering presentation was done (even though young Pollack was the person who lead the lawsuit to make GLX be mandated).
Or maybe the "reflective of their attitudes" is you mean their current jobs now.
I guess I'm just find it confusing. Does riding the T a good sign of not? Davey seem to implies yes. Pollack seems to not unless you view her in a good light. Then you mention Dr. Bev Scott but acknowledge she is respected.
I'm saying it feels nice to see them actually use the system, but not always a 1:1 indicator of how they are as an actual transit manager. Rich gets it, Stephanie is a politician who strikes compromise, Bev knows her shit, no amount of T riding would've made anything better about Poftak's tenure.
Everyone I've worked with here at RIPTA who worked with Dr. Scott feel she was an amazing executive even though she didn't regularly commute using our buses.
The proof in the pudding is with what Eng has achieved with policies and leadership since arriving, not because he rides the system. I've run into him a handful of times on my reverse-commute between Boston and Providence, and it does feel good to see him. I'll say that as agency staff, good managers listen to staff and industry research. As CEO of ANY large org, you'll never have eyes on everything, and while it's good to use your product/service, it's much more meaningful to UNDERSTAND how it's made/delivered, how people use it, etc.
I get the sense Eng is trying to get strong department heads in place so he can delegate day to day posting them, with him handling high-level planning, including pestering the legislature. Of course finding strong, competent department heads is the challenge.