Opinion

TRANSIT KNOW-NOTHINGS

Everyone wants reliable mass transit, but no one wants to pay for it: No matter the funding plan, there are always critics – and last weekend’s dissing of yet another plan, tolls on East River bridges, is no different.

Whether such tolls make sense for this city is a subject for another day. But we wonder: If tolls don’t work as revenue-raisers, andMayor Bloomberg‘s plan to charge Midtown motorists a surcharge is no-go, and MTA fare-hikes are wrong, where is the money to come from to keep mass transit on track?

Yesterday, the Commission on Traffic Mitigation weighed various alternatives to the mayor’s plan to charge motorists $8 to enter Manhattan, which Hizzoner says would yield $400 million-plus a year for city subways and buses.

But over the weekend, it seemed every demagogue in town – particularly those representing the outer boroughs – was out screaming about the horrors of bridge tolls, calling them an “onerous tax” and a plan that’s dead from the start.

Now, we take second place to no one in our opposition to new taxes, even those disguised as tolls and fees.

“Tolls are a tax dressed up in top hat and tails – and normally the last thing the city needs is yet another tax,” we wrote when Mayor Mike first proposed his congestion-pricing plan.

“But public transit – subways and buses – is Gotham’s lifeblood. The city needs it to be in top shape – remember the ’80s? – and that takes money.”

We’ve consistently reminded folks that to keep a vast 24/7 transit system running – smoothly and reliably – requires hefty funding.

Indeed, even before factoring in the cost of needed capital improvements, the agency faces billions in cash shortfalls for the coming years.

Thus, we backed Bloomberg’s Midtown fees as a way to raise transit funds, as well as the MTA’s call for fare hikes, which it seems set to OK this week.

Yet, from the get-go, New Yorkers have overwhelmingly opposed congestion pricing. And in the eight months since Mayor Mike rolled out the plan, the idea’s only grown less popular. In the most recent Quinnipiac poll, nearly two-thirds oppose it – up from 52 percent in an earlier poll.

Meanwhile, the hot air over “unfair” fare hikes is competing with greenhouse gases as a cause of global warming.

So, again, if such hikes are out, congestion pricing is a non-starter and East River bridge tolls won’t work, whence come the funds for mass transit?

Oh, we know: Albany must cough up more money. But where does “Albany” get the money from, if not the pockets of New Yorkers themselves, through taxes that are already through the roof?

Shouldn’t riders, who enjoy deep discounts on the actual cost of their rides, be asked to pony up? If not, what about those who drive on the city’s limited, overburdened, over-trafficked streets (currently, at no charge)?

We’ve never been fully convinced that Hizzoner’s congestion-pricing plan will fly – politically or in terms of its operations. And the drawbacks of bridge tolls are obvious.

But it’s time for critics to get real.

If they don’t like bridge tolls or congestion pricing, they should at least be understanding of the need for fare hikes – not looking to sock taxpayers across the state with yet higher levies.

Don’t hold your breath on that one.