Responding to federal pressure, MBTA GM Phil Eng has painted a passenger pushing an elderly woman off a bus as not indicative of how the agency has made “significant strides” in safety.
The general manager says he and his colleagues “appreciate” the Trump administration’s “interest in and concern for public safety on the MBTA’s transit network,” and federal funding is crucial to its overall success.
Eng’s remarks came in a letter he sent to U.S. Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy, who demanded that the T submit reports that identify actions taken to deter crime, stop fare evasion, and provide a clean environment for riders.
Duffy’s order came after a pair of attacks on bus riders at the end of the summer.
The U.S. Department of Transportation focused its statement, which accompanied Duffy’s demand for information, on a 63-year-old woman being shoved off an MBTA bus at a stop in Roxbury on Sept. 8, weeks after a man allegedly removed his belt and struck a rider in the face and neck aboard a bus in Cambridge on Aug. 16.
Luz Pineda, the passenger arrested for viciously shoving the elder woman off the bus, is barred from riding the transit network, among other punishments, after pleading no contest in her case on Friday.
Roxbury Judge Connor Barusch also ordered Pineda, 32, of Boston, to complete an anger management program, to stay away from and not contact the victim, and to continue with mental health treatment.
Through Sept. 24, the Transit Police Department has seen a 16% reduction in recorded crime across the system this year, responding to 528 incidents compared to 632 in the same period last year, according to Eng.
The decrease in crime, the GM said, aligns with the MBTA continuing to see a steady increase in daily ridership, at a 10% clip, between 2024 and 2025.
Eng connected the agency’s “significant strides” in reliability and safety to its partnership with the U.S. Department of Transportation and the Federal Transportation Administration.
“However,” he wrote, “I want to emphasize that this is only the beginning of our aggressive approach to accelerate the delivery of projects and service improvements for the riders, communities, and businesses we serve.”
Duffy warned that if Eng did not respond to his order for a report outlining the agency’s actions to improve safety for riders and transit workers within 14 days, there would be a risk that the T would lose federal funding.
Trump’s transportation secretary also ordered information from Chicago.
“President Trump cares about our great cities and the hardworking Americans who inhabit them,” Duffy said in a statement on Sept. 19. “While local leaders seem intent on putting the needs of criminals first, we’re not waiting for the next Iryna. Chicago and Boston are on notice to take actions that enhance safety and reduce the crime affecting their riders and transit workers — or risk losing federal support.”
Duffy was referencing Iryna Zarutska, a 23-year-old Ukrainian refugee who was stabbed to death on a train in Charlotte, N.C., on Aug. 22.
“This is about standing up for American families who deserve a safe and clean transportation system,” Duffy said.
Eng highlighted how the MBTA has “made substantial progress” since 2023 after he joined the agency.
The MBTA became just the second U.S. subway system to undergo a federal safety management inspection in April 2022, following a series of safety failures that culminated in a passenger being dragged to death by a train. Eng attributes that to “insufficient staffing and an extensive maintenance backlog.”
As of last Tuesday, the Transit Police Department has 228 sworn officers, a number that Eng stated he envisions expanding significantly after changes were made to state law allowing the department to hire “more officers outside of the traditional hiring process.”
The department has a goal of bringing its workforce to 276 officers by the summer of 2027, Eng stated.
“Over time,” the GM wrote, “through transparent communication about the issues we were facing, the trust we built within our workforce extended to our ridership. Throughout this process our commitment to safety has been paramount.”
“We understood then, as we do immediately,” he added, “that if riders do not feel safe and secure on our network, they will not use it.”
Duffy also directed Eng to focus particularly on “key transportation and intermodal hubs such as South Station.” Duffy’s deputy director of transportation, Steven Bradbury, suggested in August that the Trump administration was considering taking over the state-owned South Station to address security.
In his letter, Duffy advised Eng that the MBTA should target federal funds for “capital expenses related to crime prevention and security activities” at South Station, “the second-busiest transportation hub in New England.”
According to Eng, the Transit Police Department has recorded 22 crimes at South Station in 2025, a 16% reduction year to date. Nearly half of those crimes have been larcenies, the GM stated.
Doors have opened to a 51-story mixed-use tower above South Station, a $1.5 billion private investment that includes 13 new bus terminal bays and three retail spaces in the bus terminal.
The project has also brought new platform security cameras, while fare gates are being installed and slated to be completed by the end of the year, Eng stated.
“We recognize that our work is never done,” the GM wrote to Duffy, “and we continue to challenge ourselves to deliver a best-in-class transit system that the public deserves and expects — with safety as a core component in everything we do.”
MBTA Transit Police photo
Boston woman Luz Pineda has been charged with assault and battery on an elder or disabled person with injury after last week’s MBTA incident. (MBTA Transit Police photo)
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