Trumps transportation chief Sean Duffy says DOGE can help MTA cut fraud, waste and abuse as he rides subways with NYC Mayor Adams

DOGE could be teaching the MTA new tricks.US Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy offered the notoriously spendthrift transit agency the help of Elon Musk’s cost-cutting team after taking a two-stop subway ride with Mayor Eric Adams in New York City Friday.Duffy ripped the Metropolitan Transportation Authority for greenlighting $250 million in contracts for consultants on the next Second Avenue subway extension — which already carries a whopping price tag of $7.7 billion — or $4.3 billion a mile.“Someone’s getting rich,” he said.“I see how much MTA spends, right?” Duffy said.“I suspect there is waste… fraud, and so I’m going to make an offer at MTA.“I know a few people in DC who are very successful at rooting out fraud, waste and abuse: DOGE,” he said, referring to the Musk-led Department of Government Efficiency.“So, I’m going to offer folks from DOGE to come down and take a look at what MTA is doing, how they’re spending their money, and can they be more efficient for the taxpayers in the state of New York?”The transportation secretary’s visit and ride along with the increasingly MAGA-friendly Adams is his latest high-profile stunt targeting the MTA amid a spat with Gov.

Kathy Hochul.No one from the MTA was on the tour, an apparent snub that came after Duffy threatened to pull funding from the agency last month.Adams also did not give Hochul a heads up about his meeting with Duffy, despite talking with her on the phone the previous night, a source familiar with the situation said.Duffy first got the governor’s goat by announcing he’d pull federal approval for congestion pricing in Manhattan, prompting a lawsuit by Hochul and MTA to keep the first-in-the-nation tolling program alive.He then demanded transit safety information from the MTA under threat of pulling federal funding — an ultimatum the former MTV “Real World” star repeated when he extended a deadline to end congestion pricing.Duffy — who was shown how to...