On Sunday, New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio went for a ride on the subway and brought some cameras with him to capture the moment for publicity. But before he did, all homeless people near the tracks were escorted out by police so the mayor wouldn’t have to contend with the nuisance like everyone else does on a daily basis.

According to the New York Post, a directive from the mayor’s office was sent to NYPD’s Transit Bureau to “make sure nobody’s hanging out” in or around the subway and to make sure his selected path “looked nice.” A source told the Post that de Blasio expected the “subway stations [to] be free and clear of homeless people.”

That same source added, “It’s too bad he’s only interested when he’s going to get on the subway. I wish he had the same attention to detail when he wasn’t on the subway. Too bad he doesn’t care about quality of life for all passengers and not just himself.”

A manager of a newsstand could noticeably tell a difference in who was “hanging around” the stations, noting the average of five homeless per day had dwindled to him seeing only one on Sunday during the mayor’s visit.

Meanwhile, de Blasio champions himself as the one putting the Democratic Party back on track to stamp out all inequalities, especially income inequality. He has bragged that his “progressive agenda goes far beyond the boundaries of the Democratic Party” and even called his plan, “The Progressive Agenda to Combat Inequality.” Unless it affects him personally.

De Blasio’s current Republican rival, Staten Island Assemblywoman Nicole Malliotakis, chided the mayor for his publicity stunt:

“For someone who claims to care about the most poor New Yorkers, to have someone clear his path when he’s about to board the subway … tells you all you need to know about Mayor de Blasio.

“These are fellow New Yorkers who are sleeping in the street, sleeping in the subway. The mayor just doesn’t care.”

The mayor has been criticized for punishing New Yorkers when he cracked down on subway fare evasion and refused to offer half-price MetroCards so those living below the federal poverty line could get to school or work.

However, City Hall denied anyone was kicked out of the subway stations on Sunday, adding “the mayor had a few-minute chat with a homeless person” before he made his trip.

The Post detailed the mayor's itinerary and an ongoing feud surrounding the metro system:

De Blasio’s F-train ride marked his latest foray underground amid an escalating feud with Gov. Andrew Cuomo over funding for the crumbling mass transit system.

Following a trip in a motorcade of SUVs from Gracie Mansion for a workout at the Prospect Park YMCA, the mayor used a MetroCard to swipe himself and wife Chirlane McCray through a turnstile at the Fourth Avenue/Ninth Street station.

Once aboard, Hizzoner — who was joined by a pack of journalists — launched into a diatribe against Cuomo and MTA Chairman Joe Lhota, who last week blamed de Blasio for refusing to spend the city’s $4 billion-plus budget surplus to fix the subways.

De Blasio said it’s Lhota and Cuomo who have ruined NYC’s subways and that they should use their resources to fix the problem. 

The mayor’s final stop on his homeless-free subway excursion was at his new re-election campaign headquarters in Brooklyn. Priorities.