United States Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy is threatening to cut federal funds from New York’s Metropolitan Transportation Authority if the agency doesn’t address crime in the subway system.
In a letter written to the MTA on Tuesday, Duffy demanded the agency provide information on plans to reduce crime, stop assaults on transit workers, address subway surfing, reduce injuries and fatalities on the tracks and deter fare evasion.
“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,” Duffy wrote. “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.”
The letter threatens to withhold federal funding, which runs in the billions.
MTA Chief of Policy and External Relations John J. McCarthy released the following statement in response to the letter:
“We are happy to discuss with Secretary Duffy our efforts, alongside the NYPD, to reduce crime and fare evasion. 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. Moreover, in the second half of last year subway fare evasion was down 25% after increasing dramatically during Covid.”
MTA Chairman and CEO Janno Lieber spoke about the letter at an appearance Wednesday morning, saying, “We have done so much to improve subway safety.”
“Right now, crime in the subway is down 45% versus the period right before [the] pandemic,” he said.
Lieber said he plans to communicate directly with Duffy about the directive.
“They asked us for very detailed information, and we’re going to prepare a letter in response,” said Lieber. “We have, actually, the lowest number of daily crimes in the subway system than we have ever had in recorded history in the first part of this year.”
Trump administration, New York continue congestion pricing battle
While the letter says nothing about congestion pricing, it comes just days before the Trump administration’s Friday deadline to end the tolling program.
Gov. Kathy Hochul and the MTA have filed suit to keep congestion pricing and say they will continue to collect tolls.
“It’s the right thing to do for New York to continue it, but it’s also very basic litigation reality, which is that when you have a dispute, the status quo stays unless one party gets an injunction to change it while you’re resolving the dispute,” Lieber said Tuesday.
The MTA is expected to get $15 billion from congestion pricing for subway modernization and accessibility upgrades.
Read Transportation Secretary Duffy’s letter to the MTA
