Retiring T official named GM of a Canadian transit system
The MBTA’s retiring chief operating officer has been named general manager of the transit system in the York Region of Canada, just outside of Toronto in the Ontario Province.
Richard J. Leary, who leaves the MBTA at the end of this month, will begin his new assignment Nov. 30, according to Kathleen Llewellyn-Thomas, commissioner of transportation services for the York Region.
On Oct. 8, Leary told MBTA managers he had submitted retirement papers. That same day, he failed to show up at the final MBTA board meeting to give a presentation about a fatal 2008 Green Line crash. Board members had voted the previous month to require Leary to respond at their final public meeting to a critical federal safety report regarding the crash.
In his new job, Leary will earn between $140,000 and $160,000 a year in Canadian dollars as part of the senior management team, Llewellyn-Thomas said.
The York Region’s transit system is substantially smaller than the T, but it is a growing region of more than 1 million people. On an average weekday, the York system carries 70,000 passengers, all by bus. That compares with about 1.2 million passenger trips on the MBTA on bus, rail, and boat.
York officials are eager to enlist Leary’s expertise quickly as they build a high-speed bus line similar to Boston’s Silver Line, Llewellyn-Thomas said.
Noah Bierman can be reached at nbierman@globe.com. 
