Federal Transit Administration threatens to withhold MTA funding if NYC Transit does not address safety issues

The Federal Transit Administration has threatened to withhold MTA funding if New York City Transit does not address safety issues that led to the death of one maintenance employee and threatened the safety of dozens more.

The MTA risks losing up to 25% of federal financial assistance if NYC Transit, its arm that manages subways and buses, does not submit a new safety risk assessment within 30 days to the FTA that addresses an increase in near miss events, according to a letter the federal agency emailed to the state transportation authority on Tuesday.

"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 said in a statement on Tuesday. "Secretary Duffy has said time and again, safety is USDOT’s top priority, and we will not accept anything less than full accountability."

During a June 2024 audit of NYCT, the FTA "identified significant safety deficiencies" in the agency's Roadway Worker Protection program, according to an August 2024 FTA directive that NYCT conduct a "comprehensive safety risk assessment of its RWP program." The audit was conducted the same month a transit worker was critically injured and around seven months after a subway worker was killed in November 2023, according to The Associated Press.

The transit agency’s RWP program dictates rules and procedures for employees to safely access roadways for work, such as those regarding the proper use of lights, flags and designated watchers to alert workers on oncoming trains.

Half of the 38 "potential employee contact near miss events" that occurred in 2023 "involved one or more workers failing to follow established flagging procedures," according to the directive. The other half were the result of a litany of concerns, including "improper communications and radio use, improper roadway protection set-up, lack of supervision, improper access to the roadway [and] train operator inattention."

In the year since it received the directive to bolster safety measures, the city transit agency issued two safety risk assessments to the FTA, according to the federal agency’s news release. The FTA rejected both NYC Transit assessments because they "failed to adequately account for a rise in risk levels and excluded critical data," the federal agency's release reads.

In a statement issued on Tuesday, MTA chief of policy and external relations John McCarthy said the FTA's "questions were answered seven months ago" and that getting the letter "out of the blue" was unsurprising. McCarthy characterized the FTA's letter as part of "a pattern of threatening letters and punitive actions by US DOT following New York's successful implementation of the first in nation Congestion Pricing program ... A Federal Judge has made it absolutely clear that punishing New York for maintaining Congestion Pricing is a violation of his injunction, which remains in effect. We are reviewing this latest letter to determine any appropriate legal action."

The MTA will not be given a fourth chance to submit a safety assessment that "adequately" accounts "for a rise in risk levels," according to the FTA’s news release. In addition to withholding funds, the FTA could require NYC Transit "to use federal dollars to "correct safety deficiencies," the release reads.