The Trump administration on Tuesday threatened to withhold federal funding from the MTA unless the agency’s leaders provide plans to improve safety in New York City’s mass transit system.
In a letter to MTA Chair Janno Lieber, U.S. Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy demanded a list of “actions and plans to reduce crime on its system,” including rates of assaults, fare evasion and train surfing in the subway.
“People traveling on the [New York City Transit] system to reach their jobs, education, health care, and other critical services need to feel secure and travel in a safe environment free of crime; as well, workers who operate the system need to be sure of a safe operating environment to provide transportation service,” he wrote.
Duffy also linked safety on mass transit with the city’s mental health challenges, stating that “citizens of the city have openly expressed their support for expanded care for individuals struggling with mental illness to specifically address some of these safety concerns.”
He gave the MTA until March 31 to respond to the demands, or else risk “enforcement actions up to and including redirecting or withholding funding,” according to the letter, which did not specify how much funding.
MTA officials have for years highlighted the issues raised in Duffy’s letter. Much of the data he requested is publicly available online and discussed during the agency’s monthly board meetings.
John McCarthy, the agency’s chief of policy and external relations, said the MTA was happy to discuss its and the NYPD’s efforts to keep the subway and buses 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,” he said in a statement. “Moreover, in the second half of last year subway fare evasion was down 25% after increasing dramatically during COVID.”
The MTA is already facing a $33 billion funding gap in its upcoming five-year construction plan to restore critical infrastructure in the transit system. That gap does not include the $14 billion earmarked from the federal government.
The Trump administration has also moved to terminate the MTA’s congestion pricing toll program in Manhattan, which has started raising revenue for the agency but is now the subject of a court battle between the MTA and federal government. Gov. Kathy Hochul has been advocating with President Donald Trump to allow the program to continue, Gothamist previously reported.
