Amidst escalating tensions over New York City's transit conditions, Mayor Eric Adams and U.S. Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy took a joint ride on the subway, a move that comes on the heels of Duffy's candidly negative appraisal of the system. This recent underground excursion was part of a broader examination of the city’s critical infrastructure, as reported by ABC7NY. Duffy had previously threatened to withhold federal funds from the Metropolitan Transportation Authority (MTA), citing uncontrolled crime, despite statistics showing otherwise.
The tour did not include MTA Chair Janno Lieber, who found himself excluded from the event, scrambling to catch up with the officials in what he described as a "Where's Waldo game" at the Brooklyn Borough Hall subway station, according to Gothamist. Duffy and Adams later emerged at the Broadway-Lafayette Station, where Secretary Duffy unhesitatingly continued to criticize the City's congestion pricing plan as "fundamentally unfair" and "classist," and even suggested that Elon Musk's DOGE could better supervise MTA's spending.
While the NYPD Transit Chief Joseph Gulotta observed a historical drop in crime, including an 18% decrease in major offenses, suggesting the lowest levels in 27 years, Duffy's stance remained unchanged. Duffy's characterization of the subway as a "s---hole" appeared undeterred, asking rhetorically when questioned by a reporter if he still felt the subway was thusly after the tour with Adams, "Some would say," as reported by Gothamist.
Adams' role in the tour seemed to be to primarily demonstrate to Duffy the initiatives the city has been taking to ensure passenger safety, including involuntary removals of the homeless and an increase in police presence on the subways. Nonetheless, this collaborative moment did not extend to congestion pricing, as Adams noted they could agree to disagree on the matter. "We don't have to agree on all aspects of it, but we're going to agree that New Yorkers should have a safe way to move around the city," Adams told ABC7NY.
Meanwhile, Duffy's visit and his controversial remarks met with retorts from state officials. Governor Hochul's spokesperson Avi Small pointedly reminded the secretary that most people in the toll zone access it using public transit. "We hope the secretary enjoyed his field trip to Manhattan and we encourage him to come back soon and ride a train or bus — like 90% of commuters to the Central Business District do every single day," Small said in a statement picked up by Gothamist.
