New York — The Trump administration threatened to withhold funding from New York City’s mass transit system if the authority that runs it fails to respond to a series of demands about crime on subways and buses.
Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy sent a letter to the Metropolitan Transportation Authority, which runs the city’s transit system, asking for a long list of details about crime in the system, including spending on efforts to right it, according to The New York Times. Duffy threatened to withhold federal funding from the authority if it doesn’t answer.
“People traveling on the N.Y.C.T. 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,” Duffy wrote, referring to the division of the MTA that operates the subway and buses, according to the Times.
He added, “I appreciate your prompt attention to this matter to avoid further consequences, up to and including redirecting or withholding funding.”
Duffy also spoke about the matter in an interview on “Fox & Friends” on Wednesday, according to The Associated Press.
“If you can’t keep your subway safe, if people can’t go to the subway and not be afraid of being stabbed or thrown in front of tracks or burnt … we’re going to pull your money,” he said, according to AP.
Transit systems in Chicago and Washington, D.C. must also clean up or face losing federal money, Duffy said.
New York officials said they’d be happy to discuss the issue.
“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,” John McCarthy, the MTA’s chief of policy and external relations, said in a statement, according to AP.
Much of the data on crime in the subway system and efforts related to prevention is already publicly available, the Times noted.
The threat from Duffy comes as the Trump administration previously moved to end the MTA’s congestion pricing toll program in Manhattan, according to Gothamist. The program, which charges drivers a new toll to enter certain busy areas of Manhattan, is meant to fund transit system improvements and help cut down on traffic problems.
It’s now the subject of a court battle between the MTA and the federal government, Gothamist said.
The MTA relies on billions of dollars a year from the federal government. It’s seeking $14 billion in federal funds in its next five-year capital budget, according to the Times.
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