MA: MBTA boss Phil Eng walks into a London tie shop, and a work of public transit art is born

On a Friday in February, a chap with a New York accent walked into an artists’ market in London and was drawn to a stall selling vibrant hand-painted silk neckties.

He struck up a conversation with the artist’s son, who was manning the stand, and mentioned the reason for his trip.

His name was Phillip Eng, and he ran the public transportation network for Greater Boston, the Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority. He was in London to meet with local transit executives.

Eng was so taken by the neckties that he reached out to the artist, Jane Ireland, and inquired about a commission.

Eng told her about his work and the modes of Boston’s transportation system that he hoped to see reflected in a tie: commuter rail, buses, ferries and “the tube,” Ireland, 70, of South London, said.

“I was very impressed,” she said over the phone from London. “I didn’t know who he was, and then I thought, ‘Good lord, he’s overseeing all this?’”

Ireland has spent a career in artistry and design. She has painted custom kimonos, waistcoats, blouses and all types of clothing, but has settled on neckties. She appreciates the constraints of painting on the small canvases. Ink bleeds on the silk by nature, but she has developed mixtures of different dyes that allow for quite detailed designs.

Her clients have included CEOs and public officials. Among them is Dickie Arbiter, a well-known commentator on Royal affairs and former spokesman for Queen Elizabeth II, Ireland said. He orders bright, abstract ties that help people find him in a crowd.

“I was looking for something transit-related,” Eng told MassLive. “I told her the story. I’m the general manager of the MBTA. Here are some links to our equipment, our system. Can you design me some ties? And she went and did that.”

Between the reference images Eng sent her and Google searches, Ireland had plenty to work from. They discussed individual ties representing each mode of transportation, or a single tie showing all of them together.

Ireland liked the bright colors of the bus and subways, particularly “the tram in green,” otherwise known as the Green Line.

She settled on a few designs. One showed the MBTA’s four subway lines interwoven with the transit system’s map, against a white background. Another showed the system’s various modes of transportation on an inky blue background. A third showed the T’s bright yellow “coach” (or bus), Ireland said, against blue, purple and white. All featured the T’s logo.

Eng paid for them himself. A fourth tie is in the works, he said.

Eng took over the MBTA in 2023 after a decades-long career in New York transportation, including top posts in New York City’s transit network.

Over the last two and a half years, he has overseen a surge in maintenance work on the T, leading to noticeably faster travel times for riders. Though the system requires significant additional work and carries a $25 billion backlog of maintenance needs, the recent repairs and steadily increasing reliability have made Eng a popular local figure.

“Maybe it sounds a little bit too biased, but we do have a great system. We just need to show the public that we can deliver reliable, robust service on a regular basis, and we’re well on our way to starting to do that,” he told MassLive in an October interview. “I know there’s a lot more to do, but we’ve made tremendous strides in just two-and-a-half years, and I’m confident we could do even better.”

Since he met Ireland’s son early this year, Eng’s portfolio has expanded. In addition to managing the MBTA, he also serves as the state’s interim transportation secretary.

Eng has sported the ties at a variety of public appearances this year.

At the MBTA Board of Directors meeting on Nov. 20, he wore the tie with all six of the T’s transportation options as he updated the board on the installation of a new Green Line safety system and other projects.

“The one with all the trams on it” seemed to be his favorite, Ireland said.

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