The $ubway-Repair Wars

Gov. Cuomo and Mayor de Blasio are still waging their war of words over who should pay how much to fix the city’s broken subway system. Which one should we believe?

The sad truth is what when it comes to transit issues, both the governor and the mayor have a serious credibility problem.

De Blasio could make a case against Cuomo’s demand that City Hall pick up half the $836 million tab for MTA Chairman Joe Lhota’s rescue plan.

For one thing, city riders and taxpayers already contribute the largest chunk of funding for New York’s transit costs — more than $5 billion a year in fares, tolls, taxes and indirect costs, like policing.

For another, as Nicole Gelinas has noted on these pages, the MTA’s money woes are a result of mismanagement: Its revenues have more than kept pace with inflation and rising ridership, but spending on employee benefits and debt service has soared.

And then there’s the role of the governor, who has embraced the MTA’s successes while long turning a blind eye to its operating failures, disclaiming any responsibility.

So de Blasio can legitimately ask whether a 50-50 split is fair and whether Albany and the MTA can’t find more cost savings.

But vowing not to contribute “one red cent” unless his demands are met is a non-starter — and not even an effective negotiating tactic.

Especially given his own longstanding inattention to transit issues until recently — and the growing number of subway-related lies in which he’s been caught by The Post.

And he’s clearly prevaricating on at least some points now. Take his complaint that the MTA has barely touched the $2 billion in new capital funds the city provided over a year ago: De Blasio knows full well (or should) that the agency spends its own cash first, then federal money — only drawing on state and city funds when it’s exhausted the other monies.

As for Cuomo, who ultimately controls the MTA, he’s mostly trying to dodge as much blame as he can for the Summer of Hell, now that it’s starting to seriously hurt him in the polls.

Which explains his bizarre argument that “it’s the city’s legal obligation” to fund the subways and Albany just “stepped in on a moral level” during the ’70s fiscal crisis.

The city’s going to have to pay something, and the state needs to formally guarantee that any money goes to Lhota’s plan. (Especially since Cuomo has just admitted that, contrary to years of denials, the balance of the Mario Cuomo Bridge’s cost will be paid for by systemwide Thruway toll hikes.)

That’s what city Comptroller Scott Stringer suggests. Just don't hold your breath waiting for Andrew Cuomo and Bill de Blasio to work things out — or to tell New Yorkers the truth.