Federal transportation officials on Tuesday threatened to withhold some funding from the MTA, claiming the agency’s leaders keep underplaying the safety risks New York City Transit workers face on the job.
Joe DeLorenzo, the Chief Safety Officer at the Federal Transit Administration, wrote in a letter that the MTA has repeatedly used “flawed analytical approaches” in developing a new safety plan that was mandated by the feds after a subway track worker was fatally struck by a train in November 2023 and another worker was seriously injured on the job in June 2024.
DeLorenzo gave the MTA 30 days to submit a new plan or else risk losing federal safety funding. He did not clarify exactly how much funding could be cut.
“I am disturbed by MTA’s failure to reinforce safety measures following serious accidents—one resulting in the death of a transit worker,” FTA Administrator Marc Molinaro wrote in a statement. “We will not accept being jerked around on safety and security issues any longer. By anyone, anywhere.”
Last year during former President Joe Biden’s administration, the feds released a report stating New York City’s subways saw a spike in “near miss” events in 2023. The report “determined that a combination of unsafe conditions and practices exists such that there is a substantial risk of death or personal injury” in the transit system.
The feds under Biden rejected a subway safety plan initially submitted by the MTA. And regulators under President Trump in January rejected a second safety plan submitted by the agency.
However, MTA leaders said Tuesday’s warning was intended to retaliate against the agency for failing to comply with a directive by Trump to end its congestion pricing tolls.
“These questions were answered seven months ago, but we are not surprised to receive this letter out of the blue now,” said MTA spokesperson John McCarthy. “Clearly this was not urgent for Washington until it was decided it was time to fire off yet another letter and press release.”
The U.S. DOT earlier this year attempted to withhold other federal transportation funding from New York in response to the tolls, a move that was later struck down by a federal judge. The letter from the FTA made no mention of congestion pricing.
Transport Workers Union International President John Samuelsen, who represents roughly half of the MTA’s workforce, said the criticism of transit worker safety in New York is bipartisan.
“This is two different administrations, Biden and Trump, that are now working feverishly to get the MTA under control,” said Samuelsen. “They emphasize on-time train performance and maintenance production on the subway tracks — they put a bigger value on that than they do on worker safety, and shame on them.”