The New York Police Department was sent an email that instructed officers to clear homeless people from certain stations to make them "look nice" for Mayor Bill de Blasio's subway ride.

The New York Post reported that officers were given the morning to "make sure nobody's hanging out" on the four station route the Mayor and wife Chirlane would be taking from the Park Slope neighbourhood to his re-election headquarters in Downtown Brooklyn.

Mr de Blasio rarely rides the subway and prefers to take private motorcade with an NYPD security detail to work at City Hall.

His opponent Republican candidate Nicole Malliotakis of Staten Island said: "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."

City Hall spokespeople have not responded to request for comment as yet, but told the newspaper that the reports are false. “These sources are refusing to provide their names because what they are saying is not true," the spokesperson said.

Once aboard the F train in Brooklyn, Mr de Blasio took the opportunity to air grievances with New York state Governor Andrew Cuomo over fixing the subway system, which has been badly in need of repair for several years.

"Here’s the truth: They’re not even spending their capital budget...There’s a huge amount of money sitting there, including the money the city gave. We gave them $2.5 billion a couple of years ago. Almost 90 percent of that money is just sitting there," Mr de Blasio said.

He said he would not allocate any more funds and that the problem with the system lies solely with Mr Cuomo and Metropolitan Transportation Authority Chairman Joe Lhota.