The MTA board is firing back at last week’s letter from U.S. Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy, which demanded statistics on fare evasion and subway crime, and explanations on what’s being done about them.

“Overall major crime in the subway system is down 21.7% versus last year,” MTA Chief Security Officer Michael Kemper said, “including a significant reduction in robberies and a decrease in that stubborn crime of felony assault.”

Duffy threatened to withhold up to $2 billion in federal funding. MTA Chair and CEO Janno Lieber says he is not going to get into a back and forth.

“My approach has always been to say, ‘Listen, the facts do matter and you’re not going to mess with our 6 million riders as a political game,’” Lieber said.

Lieber says they know more needs to be done, especially on assaults, and said the increase in assaults — compared to before the pandemic — is because of increased enforcement.

“We’re doing a lot more enforcement and that is prompting more confrontations that seem to end with a felony assault,” he said.

In 2019, there were 71 assaults on police officers, but in 2024, there were 179 — accounting for 31% of all assaults, according to the NYPD. Much of the enforcement is devoted to fare evasion prevention and quality-of-life issues.

Seven percent of assaults were on transit workers, which still leaves 62% of assaults on everyday riders. Lieber says they know riders have to feel safe, which they are working on, but he says they also need help from Albany.

“Frankly, we’re not satisfied that the criminal justice system is providing enough consequences for some of these behaviors,” Lieber said.

Installing modern turnstiles could help cut down on assaults, and the MTA revealed Wednesday it picked four company’s fare gates to pilot at 20 stations this year.

Official say they’re just waiting for funding from Washington and Albany for the next capital plan.