Transit is an essential public good for working-class New Yorkers. As a career public defender, Vichal has spent twenty years fighting for working-class families to access the public services and protections they deserve. Transit is how this district lives, and most of us do not own cars. We get to work, to school, to the doctor, to see family on subways, bikes, and buses. 

 

The federal government is actively attacking NYC’s transit system. The Trump administration is in court trying to kill New York’s congestion pricing program. The FTA has threatened to withhold up to 25 percent of MTA federal funding. The Interborough Express, the new Brooklyn-to-Queens transit line known as the IBX, is being forced to move forward without federal funding. Federal grant funding for the Gateway Hudson Tunnel was frozen as political retribution until New York sued. Multiple different attacks on one system, the worst federal assault NYC has seen in a generation, and our district needs a representative who will fight back.

 

The following paper lays out Vichal’s Transit agenda in three parts: what he will resist, what he will reclaim, and what he will reimagine.

 

A. RESIST: Defending NYC Transit Against Federal Attack

 

New Yorkers have rightfully paid for a robust and reliable transit system. The sustained onslaught is putting financial and physical strain on the system that our community cannot afford. In Congress, Vichal will not let that happen and will: 
 

• Defend congestion pricing. Congestion pricing has reduced traffic in Manhattan’s congestion zone by 11 percent, sped up travel times across the region, and generated more than $500 million in its first year for MTA capital priorities, including signal modernization, accessibility upgrades, and new buses. The Trump administration is still trying to kill the program, and Vichal will oppose every federal action that tries to claw it back.

 

• Stop the federal raid on NYC transit funding. The MTA carries 43 percent of the nation’s mass transit riders but receives only 17 percent of federal funding. The FTA has threatened to withhold up to 25 percent of MTA federal funding, is forcing the IBX to advance without federal grants, has proposed a FY2026 budget that would slash the Capital Investment Grants program by $1.2 billion, and previously frozen $15 billion for the Gateway Hudson Tunnel. Vichal will use congressional oversight to fight these cuts to preserve and expand our transit system. 

 

• Defend transit worker safety. TWU has been demanding real federal action on subway track worker safety for years. But instead of promoting worker safety, the FTA is arbitrarily threatening to withhold 25 percent of MTA federal funding as political retribution. Vichal will push for legitimate federal worker safety enforcement and against its punitive use against NYC. 

 

B. RECLAIM: Restoring Transit Service in NY-7

 

Reliable transit and accessible stations have been promised to our district for decades, yet a generation later, the promise has repeatedly gone unfulfilled. Small businesses across the district, in Williamsburg, Greenpoint and Long Island City are losing weekends to G train shutdowns. Most stations across our community still don’t have elevators and Access-A-Ride is failing elderly and disabled neighbors who depend on it. In Congress, Vichal will:

 

• Fully fund the All-Stations Accessibility Program. ASAP funds the elevators and ramps at the dozens of stations across our district that still fail wheelchair users, parents with strollers, elderly riders, and every New Yorker. Our communities deserve this fundamental infrastructure today, not in another generation.
   

• End the chronic G train shutdowns. The G has been losing weekends for three years running. In 2026 alone, the G shuts down for three weekends in a row in June, another three in December, plus weekends in August and September, and twenty-four overnight closures. That is almost 40 percent of weekends without G train service. The MTA says the tunnel under Newtown Creek between Greenpoint and Long Island City needs far more work than they planned for on a project already well behind schedule. Vichal will fight for the federal funding to finish that work fast. He will also push to restore weekend G service to Forest Hills, connecting Brooklyn to Queens directly for the first time in fifteen years.

 

• Fix Access-A-Ride. Paratransit in NYC is a daily failure for elderly and disabled riders. Rides repeatedly arrive late or not at all, leaving residents stranded. Vichal will push for full federal paratransit funding, federal enforcement of disability rights, and a real federal standard for paratransit reliability.

 

• Take federal action on highway corridors. The BQE runs through the district, and McGuinness Boulevard cuts through Greenpoint. Vichal will fight to defend and rebuild the federal Reconnecting Communities Pilot Program, which the Trump administration has effectively frozen, that will go to capping highways not expanding them. 

 

C. REIMAGINE: Building the Transit System NY-7 Deserves

 

The district needs to build the next generation of NYC transit, with union jobs and the riders who depend on the system at the center. In Congress, Vichal will:

 

• Fund the Interborough Express and the QueensLink. The IBX will connect Brooklyn and Queens directly and serve up to 200,000 daily riders. But the MTA has secured only $2.75 billion of the $5.5 billion needed because Trump’s DOT will not approve grants. The QueensLink would create a critical connection between Western Queens to the Rockaways. Vichal will fight for full federal funding for both projects with Project Labor Agreements and prevailing wage, so the biggest new transit lines in decades can be built. 

 

• Federal investment in Bus Rapid Transit. The buses on Flushing, Knickerbocker, Metropolitan, and Myrtle are stuck navigating busy corridors. The MTA has proposed a Ridgewood Busway under the M train that may deliver immediate service improvements. Vichal will fight for federal BRT funding tied to PLAs, prevailing wage, and apprenticeship pipelines for NYCHA residents and CUNY students.

 

• Build protected bike infrastructure. Delivery workers, commuters, and kids on bikes are dying on our streets. Vichal will fight for federal Safe Streets and Roads for All funding to support protected bike lanes, intersection redesigns, and cargo-bike infrastructure that supports last-mile delivery. He will also push for a federal e-bike battery safety standard, with subsidies and trade-in programs, so delivery workers don’t bear the cost. 

 

• Invest in NYC’s Ferries. NYC Ferry connects Greenpoint, Williamsburg, LIC, and Astoria to Manhattan and the Bronx, and demand has consistently outpaced capacity. Vichal will fight for federal Passenger Ferry Grant Program funding to expand NYC Ferry service in our neighborhoods and for federal investment in the waterfront infrastructure.
   

• Build it through union labor. Every federal dollar in this paper should come with Project Labor Agreements, prevailing wage, and apprenticeship pipelines that open construction trades and MTA jobs to NYCHA residents, formerly incarcerated workers, and CUNY students. Vichal will partner with the unions to ensure the next generation of NYC transit is built and operated by union labor.

 

The federal government should be NYC’s partner in transit, not its adversary. For decades, federal investment has built the subway, buses, and rail lines this city runs on. We are watching it being threatened and dismantled in real time. 

 

There is real opportunity to reverse this trend today. Governor Hochul has fought the Trump administration on congestion pricing, on Gateway, on the MTA capital plan. Mayor Mamdani is in office with a clear transit agenda for this city. The state and the city are aligned. What this district needs from Washington is a member of Congress who will fight to make the federal government a real third partner, not a hostile one.

 

Vichal Kumar is running to be that partner. To defend the programs working for our district. To restore the service that has been lost. And to build the transit system that the riders, workers, and families of this community deserve.