Since New York City doesn’t seem interested in addressing crime on the subway system, the Trump administration is giving them a little nudge in that direction.
Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy on Wednesday sent a letter to Janno Lieber, who heads the New York Metropolitan Transportation Authority (NYMTA) threatening to cut off federal funding to the agency if it did not address its demands.
Duffy demanded that the NYMTA “ensure a safe and clean environment, reduce crime and fare evasion, and maintain a safe operating system” to protect New Yorkers.
Notably, there have been a number of high-profile safety related incidents occurring on the system, and 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.
The secretary directed the New York City Transit Authority (NYCT) to “provide information about agency practices and expenditures.” This information includes “actions and plans to reduce crime on its system.”
The letter asks the agency to provide other details such as “the number and percentage of employees receiving de-escalation training” and “the number of transit worker assaults.” The secretary also requested more information regarding crime and fare evasion in the subway system.
NYCT has until March 31 to respond.
This comes as the Trump administration is engaged in a battle over New York City’s congestion-pricing toll program that started in January.
From the New York Times:
The threat comes amid a continuing battle between the Trump administration and the state-run transit agency over the congestion-pricing toll program that began operating in Manhattan in January. Mr. Trump has moved to kill the program and has given the authority until Friday to abandon it. Gov. Kathy Hochul and M.T.A. leaders have sued to keep it intact.
Mr. Duffy’s letter did not mention congestion pricing, but transit experts and legal observers have said that the federal government might threaten to withdraw funding from other projects to gain leverage in its opposition to the toll.
John J. McCarthy, chief of policy and external relations at the MTA, noted that crimes committed in the subway system had dropped by 40 percent this year. He also indicated that fare evasion had also declined by 25 percent last year.
Still, the issue of subway crime has garnered plenty of attention over recent years. The case of Daniel Penny placed the issue squarely in the spotlight, with many New Yorkers still complaining about criminals misbehaving on the subway.
In another case, an illegal immigrant allegedly set a female passenger on fire, killing her. Video footage that went viral on social media showed the woman burning alive just inside the train.
BREAKING: Suspect image released after a woman was BURNED to death, fully engulfed in flames, while sleeping on NYC Subway on F Train in Coney Island this morning l, after a person threw a lit match at her. She was found with liquor bottles around her. Investigation is ongoing.… pic.twitter.com/3y6LovxrCH
— Oliya Scootercaster 🛴 (@ScooterCasterNY) December 22, 2024
Even if the numbers say something different, stories like these have created some bad optics for the city.
The Trump administration has also threatened to withhold funds from educational institutions like Columbia University and the University of Pennsylvania for allowing the spread of antisemitism and forcing female athletes to compete against men.
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