NEW YORK — Escalating a fight between the Metropolitan Transportation Authority and the Trump administration, Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy has threatened to withhold federal funding if the transit agency does not provide information on how it is addressing crime.
In a letter to MTA CEO Janno Lieber, Duffy requested information on how the MTA’s New York City Transit — which oversees subways and buses — is acting to reduce assaults on transit workers, fare evasion, crime against passengers, and efforts to address injuries and fatalities relating to trespassing, including suicides. It also asked for details on all funding the agency is using to address safety issues.
“The expectation is that NYCT will address this matter promptly to ensure compliance and avoid further FTA enforcement actions up
to and including redirecting or withholding funding,” the letter says.
In a press release, Duffy said, “The trend of violent crime, homelessness, and other threats to public safety on one of our nation’s most prominent metro systems is unacceptable. After years of soft-on-crime policies, our Department is stepping in to restore order. Commuters are sick and tired of feeling like they have to jeopardize their safety to get to work, go to school, or to travel around the city. We will continue to fight to ensure their federal tax dollars are going towards a crime-free commute.”
Duffy’s letter comes with the MTA and Department of Transportation embroiled in a court fight over the transit agency’s congestion pricing program. Duffy, making good on a campaign promise of President Donald Trump, moved in February to revoke federal approval for the toll program that began a month earlier, but the MTA has sued to continue the program [see “New York MTA sues …,” Trains News Wire, Feb. 19, 2025].
A federal official set this Friday, March 21, as the date tolling should cease [see “Federal government sets date …,” News Wire, Feb. 28, 2025], but Lieber has said it will continue. “This is not a test of wills,” the MTA CEO said, as reported by News 12 Long Island. “It’s just the reality that when you have a dispute, things don’t change until a court orders it, and that has not yet taken place.”
The federal action also comes after New York Gov. Kathy Hochul announced a series of moves in January to address many of the concerns listed in Duffy’s letter, including increased police patrols on subway trains and in stations, new fare gates at some stations, and increased mental health efforts to address homeless individuals on the transit system. Hochul has also said subway fare evasion was down 26% during the second half of 2024.
John McCarthy, the MTA’s chief of policy and external relations, said in a statement that the agency is happy to discuss its efforts to keep its system safe: “The good news is numbers are moving in the right direction: crime is down 40% compared to the same period in 2020 right before the pandemic, and so far in 2025 there are fewer daily major crimes in transit than any non-pandemic year ever.”
Earlier this month, Duffy sent a series of letters regarding transportation safety issues to Washington, D.C., Mayor Muriel Bowser, Amtrak CEO Stephen Gardner, and Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Authority CEO Randy Clarke. The letter to Gardner called for increased crime prevention efforts at Washington Union Station, including submission of an updated Crime Prevention Plan within 30 days; the letter to Clarke also addressed fare evasion and crime-reduction efforts. Neither of those letters mentions the possibility of withholding or redirecting funds.
A couple of minutes ago I saw this issue covered on foxnews.com.
It’s time, way past time, the federal taxes stop being the backstop for local mismanagement.