The MTA Board is heading to Albany for help, and you can be sure the members won’t be flying in private jets.

They’ll be going by rail, of course, and they’re making sure we know about it.

In my column today, I pointed out that the Metropolitan Transportation Authority budget hearings start on Wednesday, and still there is no movement to put in place the rescue measures recommended by the Ravitch Commission. Time is of the essence. The MTA wants to set its rate increase in March.

Well, today we get notice that the MTA Board, led by Chairman H. Dale Hemmerdinger, will travel to Albany on 8:20 a.m. Amtrak train to Albany. It’s Amtrak No. 69, the Adirondack.

In the state capital, they’ll ask legislator’s to support Ravitch’s recommendations, which include a payroll tax on employers in the MTA region — including the Lower Hudson Valley — and tolls on four East River and Harlem River bridges that are now free.

Those measures would help the transit giant keep fare hikes this year to eight percent or so, rather than seeing them take much more drastic jumps — up to 29 percent for most Metro-North Railroad rides, for instance.

They’ll report afterward on their talks.

Meanwhile, I got an anonymous call about my column taking me to task for falling behind a little on my hypothetical salaries. I gave the following examples to explain the payroll tax: For every teacher or cop who makes $50,000, the school district or municipal government would have to pay $165 in the tax. The caller challenged me to find a cop or teacher making so little.

He’s not exactly right, but he’s got a point. There are teachers and cops making $50k, but it definitely is the low end of the scale, and there certainly many making more.

In the column, I was trying to use nice, round numbers. But if it makes people happy, I could say, for instance, that for every teacher making $85,795 a year, the school district would pay a tax of a half penny more than $283.13.

Happy?