Bernie token of progress

A YEAR AFTER he thought tokens were how you got onto the subway, Sen. Bernie Sanders has learned how to swipe a MetroCard — just in time to throw his support behind Mayor de Blasio’s plan to tax the rich to fund the subways.

“What the mayor is saying and what we should be doing in Washington, is we say to the wealthiest people in this country: You know what, you need to start paying your fair share of taxes,” the Vermont independent said during a news conference in the Fulton St. station in lower Manhattan.

Sanders (inset with mayor) backed de Blasio’s “Fair Fix” plan, which calls for an city income tax bump on individuals making above $500,000 and couples making above $1 million to fund subway repairs and to provide halfprice MetroCards for low-income commuters.

Sanders is a newcomer to the MetroCard.

During a meeting with the Daily News Editorial Board during his presidential campaign, the Brooklyn native said he’d taken the subway a year earlier. Asked how he got through the turnstile, he said, “You get a token and you get on.” The token was phased out in 2003.

On Monday, Sanders used a MetroCard — and made it in on the first swipe.

By backing the mayor’s plan, Sanders waded into what’s been an at-times vitriolic difference of opinion between de Blasio and Gov. Cuomo — who has insisted de Blasio pony up half the cost of an immediate transit rescue plan and has pushed congestion pricing over a so-called millionaire’s tax.

“I’m not taking sides. To be honest with you, I’ve got enough to keep me busy in Washington without getting involved in New York State politics,” Sanders said.

Advocates of congestion pricing say it’s actually more progressive, because most city residents do not own cars and those who do have higher incomes.