By David Shepardson
(Reuters) -U.S. Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy on Tuesday threatened to withhold federal transit funds from New York’s Metropolitan Transportation Authority over crime and safety on the New York City subway system and other issues.
The MTA is the state agency that operates the city’s subway and buses, as well as commuter rail lines that serve nearby suburbs.
Duffy said the MTA “must ensure a safe and clean environment, reduce crime and fare evasion, and maintain a safe operating system.” He wants the MTA to provide documents by March 31 on its plan to “ensure effective security for passengers and workers.” He cited questions about assaults, including passengers who have been pushed in front of trains.
The letter came the same day that MTA CEO Janno Lieber said the agency did not intend to honor a demand from the U.S.
Transportation Department that it halt Manhattan’s congestion pricing program by Friday. “Nothing is going to change. We are very confident there won’t be a rollback of congestion pricing,” Lieber said.
Congestion pricing, which was introduced in January, charges a toll in Manhattan on vehicles driving south of 60th Street.
The program is designed to cut down traffic in Manhattan and speed the flow of vehicles and raise revenue to fund mass transit capital improvements, mainly for the subway but also for commuter rail lines.
The MTA and a New York bridge authority in February filed a lawsuit in federal court in Manhattan seeking to block the order to halt congestion pricing.
“The trend of violent crime, homelessness, and other threats to public safety on one of our nation’s most prominent metro systems is unacceptable,” Duffy said.
He said he also wanted answers on how the MTA would reduce injuries from suicide events and “subway surfing,” the illegal daredevil practice of riding atop moving subway cars.
The MTA in response said it has sharply reduced crime and fare evasion with the help of the New York City Police Department.
“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,” the MTA said.
Last year, New York Governor Kathy Hochul directed the deployment of another 250 members of the New York National Guard to assist with transit security and said the MTA had installed 15,396 security cameras that are in all subway cars.
The MTA had more than 1 billion subway rides last year, a big rebound from pandemic lows but still below pre-pandemic levels.
(Reporting by David Shepardson; Editing by Leslie Adler)
