In a recent interview on Fox News, Secretary of Transportation Sean Duffy made it clear that his department will not be investing in cities that fail to maintain their public transportation systems.
He specifically criticized Democratic New York Governor Kathy Hochul for the deteriorating state of the city's subway network.
According to the Daily Caller, New York officials have been working to curb subway crime by bolstering their police presence since April 2024. This follows a spate of shootings and assaults within the transit system. During his appearance on "The Ingraham Angle," host Laura Ingraham questioned Duffy about the reality of the situation, noting that Democratic Mayor Eric Adams claimed a decline in crime.
Duffy responded, "So the truth is, transit across America is dangerous, right? These liberal mayors, they want everyone out of cars and into trains. But they make the trains unsafe, so no one really wants to ride them." He continued, "Listen, I know a lot of people in New York who, theyre OK riding transit or the subway during the day, but if its in the morning or if its at night, even big men dont want to ride the subway at those times of night."
He acknowledged that the mayor has reported some progress, but he also pointed out that there are conflicting statistics. Duffy emphasized that the real failure lies with the governor of New York.
On the same day, Mayor Adams invited Duffy to experience New York Citys public transportation system firsthand. NYPD Transit Chief Joseph Gulotta stated that subway crime had reached an all-time low due to the increased police presence, as reported by ABC7 NY.
Despite Governor Hochul's intentions to invest in the Metropolitan Transportation Authority (MTA), Duffy criticized her for not addressing the fundamental issues of security and safety. He said, "They have homelessness and crazy people that live and reside inside of subways. So its unacceptable. We at the Department of Transportation, we actually partner with a lot of the transit systems around the country. We give them a lot of federal taxpayer money to help them run their systems."
Duffy further warned that cities failing to improve their public transportation systems could lose federal funding. He stated, "Our position is, if you dont clean up your act, were not going to invest in you. If you do it well and you have beautiful trains that are on time, that are safe, well make those investments as taxpayers. But if you dont, were going to pull the money and well put it somewhere else."
In January, Hochul announced new initiatives to safeguard subway riders and transit workers, including stationing an estimated 750 New York Police Department officers throughout the city and an additional 300 in train cars.
Duffy concluded by urging the transit authority and the governor to scrutinize the MTA's spending, identify any fraud, waste, and abuse, and strive for efficiency and cost-effectiveness. He said, "Again, they have a choice. I was telling the transit authority and the governor that we need to send DOGE into the MTA and actually look at how they spend their money, look at the fraud, the waste and the abuse, pull it out and start to make these projects efficient and cost effective."
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