Why ’burbs’ conge$tion grab is unfair

Suburban politicians are demanding a cut of congestionpricing cash meant to rescue the subways — even though city taxpayers already underwrite the commuter railroads.

Long Island state Sens. John Brooks, Jim Gaughran, Anna Kaplan, Todd Kaminsky, Monica Martinez and Kevin Thomas, plus Majority Leader Andrea Stewart-Cousins of Westchester, put their hands out for congestion-pricing funds within days of the policy announcement.

But the Long Island Rail Road and Metro-North got 37 percent of the MTA’s construction budget over the last decade, despite accounting for only 28 percent of the MTA’s tax and fare revenues.

The disparity amounts to $4.5 billion, a Post analysis found.

That’s enough to replace the subway’s crumbling, century-old sig- nals with the MTA’s new computerized system on 56 miles of tracks, upgrading virtually every major line in Manhattan.

“[The subway] is the lifeblood of the city and state’s economy and tax base,” said Riders Alliance spokesman Danny Pearlstein.

All told, the MTA allocated $50.9 billion for subway, bus and commuter-railroad projects between 2010-2019, not counting Hur- ricane Sandy repairs, according to the Citizens Budget Commission. More than half, $29.8 billion, came in the last five years.

The MTA claimed the analysis was off the mark because funding can come from multiple sources.

“The Post is comparing apples and oranges in a deeply misleading way,” said MTA chief external-affairs officer Maxwell Young.