Trump’s DOT Head Rips Hochul Handling of Subways, Calls System a ‘Shithole’

A day after Gov. Kathy Hochul said she didn’t have to go to war with the federal government over the congestion-pricing question, Sean Duffy, the Wisconsin-born front man in the Trump administration’s plan to derail congestion pricing, decided there should be a war.

Over the weekend, Duffy blasted the NYC subway system as a crime ridden “shithole” and blamed Gov. Hochul for the mess.

He claimed a “simple” solution is to place more cops into the subway system, saying that would clean up the system in a day and a half.

“In 36 hours you could clean out the subways, this could be a non-issue; send law enforcement in, kick out the homeless, get rid of the drugs,” he said, according to NJ.com. Duffy delivered his remarks in Wharton, NJ, where he was addressing the problem of sinkholes opening up underneath Interstate 80.

“Put cops on the beat making sure there is no violence, make sure people aren’t afraid of being punched or stabbed or pushed in front of a train,” he said. “This isn’t hard: Law enforcement is simple.“

“If you want people to take the train, to take transit, then make it safe, make it clean, make it beautiful, make it wonderful, don’t make it a shithole, which is what she’s done,” he said, publicly castigating the governor. “And she could fix it in hours, not days, not weeks, and she chooses not to.”

Official statistics from the NYPD say subway crime is actually down 22 percent from Jan. 1. That follows a move by Hochul in mid-January, to send $77 million to NYC to put 750 additional cops on subway platforms and to have 300 cops in pairs ride subways at night.

Hochul, only a day before Duffy’s broadside, was striking a conciliatory tone at a press briefing touting the benefits of congestion pricing since the city started charging most drivers $9 to enter Manhattan below 60th Street from 5 a.m. to 9 p.m.

“We don’t have to be at war over this,” Hochul had said.

“The world has changed dramatically for this city and this region ever since congestion pricing went into effect in early January,” she said at a rally in Manhattan’s Meatpacking District on March 21.

Hochul arrived via bus traveling with invited media, boarding at Union Square and heading to the rally at West 14th Street and Ninth Avenue. She proclaimed at the rally, “We just took the M14 over and guess what? It was fast!”

There were intermittent chants of “Congestion pricing works!” as Hochul joined business leaders, transit advocates and elected officials, including State Senators Brad Hoylman-Sigal, Kristen Gonzalez, Liz Kruger, and Robert Jackson.

Duffy’s original plan was to shut the congestion-pricing program down on March 21, but the MTA was subsequently given a 30-day reprieve by the Trump administration. The governor and MTA Chair Janno Lieber have made it known that the tolling cameras will stay on until judges rule against the program

The tolling initiative is hoped to give the MTA a boost of $600 million to $700 million in toll revenue, allowing it to issue $15 billion in bonds for its badly needed 2025-29 Capital Plan, which will help to modernize almost-100-year-old subway signaling, extend ADA accessibility to more subway stations, and keep the extension of the Second Avenue subway to Lexington Avenue and 125th Street on track.

“Since congestion pricing took effect over two months ago, traffic is down and business is up—and that’s the kind of progress we’re going to keep delivering for New Yorkers,” Hochul said.

The MTA supplied data showing since Jan. 5 in the tolling zone, traffic was down 11 percent in February from the same month last year, with 3 million fewer vehicles In January and February; February traffic moved 30 percent faster on bridges and through tunnels, bus service is faster, and car-honking complaints are down nearly 70 percent, she said.

Surprisingly, MTA statistics also claim Broadway show attendance is up, restaurant reservations rose 5 percent, and retail sales are on track to be $900 million higher in 2025 compared with last year.

And mass transit traffic is also up. Bus ridership is up 9 percent, subway ridership is up 6 percent, LIRR ridership up 8 percent, and Metro-North Railroad up 4 percent.

Not every politician is happy with the tolling program. On March 20, the day before the rally, Gov. Phil Murphy of New Jersey decried its value: “Every day that congestion pricing continues in Manhattan’s Central Business District is another day that hardworking New Jerseyans are unfairly tolled to line the pockets of the mismanaged MTA.”

During the Q&A for media attendees after the rally, Gov. Hochul was asked about her negotiations with President Trump, and Secertary Duffy’s request for a detailed review of crime and MTA safety protocols by March 31.

She quipped, “If the Secretary of Transportation is so worried about safety, why don’t you look upward and worry about safety in the skies, which you actually have control over, and we can take care of safety here.”