Boston area’s troubled public transit agency gets a new boss

Phillip Eng, an engineer with decades of experience running public transit systems, has been named the general manager of the Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority, the Boston area’s troubled public transit agency, Gov. Eng, the former president of the Metropolitan Transportation Authority’s Long Island Rail Road and one-time interim President of New York City Transit, was most recently executive vice president at the engineering consultant firm The LiRo group, is known as a public transit troubleshooter. Boston Carmen’s Union, Local 589, which represents about 6,000 of the MBTA’s more than 7,000 employees, said it was “optimistic” about Eng’s appointment, blaming current problems on the failed policies of previous leadership teams. “The truth is that cuts, privatization, and austerity have dramatically failed the MBTA, its workforce, and its riders — and so the key to this general manager’s success will be avoiding those failed approaches, and working in true partnership with riders, workers, and our communities to chart a new direction based on the public interest and the public good,” the union said in a statement.