Buck passed on overnight subway start

Overnight subway service has become a pandemic hot potato.

Gov. Cuomo said Monday that he didn’t know what his plan will be for overnight subway service when the Metropolitan Transportation Authority at the end of the month ends a program offering free cab rides to essential workers during the 1 a.m. to 5 a.m. shutdown.

“You have to ask the MTA,” Cuomo (photo) said.

For months, MTA officials have said it’s up to Cuomo to decide when the subways will reopen overnight.

The nightly closures began May 6 to enable the removal of homeless riders and disinfecting of subway cars and platforms.

But after Cuomo’s punt, MTA Chairman Patrick Foye chucked his chance to take responsibility, saying he’ll wait for direction from state Health Commissioner Howard Zucker, who is a Cuomo appointee.

“As the pandemic continues, the 1 a.m. to 5 a.m. closure will continue,” said Foye.

“The commissioner of health will opine on the continuation of the pandemic.”

Earlier Monday, Cuomo flashed a PowerPoint slide noting the “overnight closure allowed us to accelerate projects all across the [subway] system.”

But four hours is not enough time to complete major subway construction work.

An ongoing project to perform repairs across the Nos. 4, 5 and 6 lines has required the MTA to close the lines south of Grand Central-42nd St. each night at 9:30 p.m.

Foye pointed to the completion of repairs on the L train’s East River tunnel in April, which began nearly a year before the pandemic hit, and the elimination of a Long Island Rail Road grade crossing in New Hyde Park, which isn’t a subway project, as examples of how the closure let the MTA accelerate construction work.