Over a dozen commuters rallied on the steps of City Hall on Wednesday to support funding for the MTA capital plan that would upgrade the NYC subway and transit system.
Transit riders and other advocates gathered to urge the NYC Council ahead of its transportation budget hearing to fund the still-unapproved MTA 2025-2029 $68.4 billion capital plan.
State lawmakers expect that the city will contribute between $3 and 4 billion to support the plan, which would help fund various infrastructure projects within the 120-year-old subway system.
“This is crunch time for funding the next wave of reliability and accessibility upgrades to the subway that congestion relief has begun,” said Danny Pearlstein, policy and communications director for the Riders Alliance. “We can’t afford to stop fixing the subway. We need to keep fixing the transit system. It’s more than a century old.”
The capital plan – which is separate from the MTA’s operating budget – would fund accessibility and safety enhancements, improve signaling, and update and reconstruct substations to prevent power failures.
Pearlstein explained that, in some respects, the subway system was ignored for many years.
“The bills are coming due. If we want to rely on it for the next century, we have to fix it now,” he said.
‘No secret’ about funding the capital plan
Lisa Daglian, executive director of the Permanent Citizens Advisory Committee to the MTA, stressed the importance of funding the capital plan.
“As we anticipate the state budget in the coming weeks, much remains uncertain. What isn’t uncertain is the overwhelming need for investment in our vital transit network,” she said. “The MTA has made no secret about the importance of funding the 2025-2029 capital plan.”
She added that the plan must be fully funded to bring the system into a state of good repair with upgraded signals and substations; accessibility and station improvements and many other upgrades.
“Our quality of life and way of life depend on a fully functional transit network,” Daglian added.
Ben Furnas, executive director of Transportation Alternatives, said funding the plan is “critical” for both the city and nearby regions.
“We need the governor and the state legislature to reach an agreement on funding because New Yorkers can’t afford even more delays, slower buses, and unreliable commutes,” he said. “The greatest city in the world deserves the greatest streets and transit system in the world — but that system needs funding to function.”
Threats from Trump admin
Meanwhile, as the federal government and New York State battle over congestion pricing in court, the U.S. Department of Transportation (USDOT) raised the stakes on the MTA again on Tuesday.
USDOT Secretary Sean Duffy sent a letter to MTA chair and CEO Janno Lieber asking for a list of actions the agency is taking to restore safety—or face the redirect or withholding of federal funds.
“The trend of violent crime, homelessness, and other threats to public safety on one of our nation’s most prominent metro systems is unacceptable. After years of soft-on-crime policies, our Department is stepping in to restore order,” Duffy said. “Commuters are sick and tired of feeling like they have to jeopardize their safety to get to work, go to school, or to travel around the city. We will continue to fight to ensure their federal tax dollars are going towards a crime-free commute.”
In a statement to amNewYork Metro, MTA Chief of Policy and External Relations John McCarthy said the agency would be “happy to discuss” with Duffy their efforts, alongside the NYPD, to reduce crime and fare evasion.
“The good news is numbers are moving in the right direction: crime is down 40% compared to the same period in 2020, right before the pandemic, and so far in 2025, there are fewer daily major crimes in transit than any non-pandemic year ever,” McCarthy said. “Moreover, in the second half of last year subway fare evasion was down 25% after increasing dramatically during COVID.”
Pearlstein, meanwhile, described Duffy’s letter as more political talk.
“If USDOT really cared about New Yorkers’ safety, it would be embracing congestion relief, which is reducing traffic crashes and which is correlated with a big jump in subway safety over these last few months,” he said.
According to the latest police data, subway crime dropped in February, with incidents down 15.1% from the same month last year. January also saw 36% fewer crimes on the rails versus the same month in 2024.
