If you’re wondering how you’re going to deal with this summer’s track-work hell at Penn Station, MTA Chairman Joe Lhota offered a solution Sunday: Start earlier.

“Try to come in earlier — or later if your job allows it,” Lhota said in an attempt to calm the thousands of beleaguered riders of the Long Island Rail Road, Amtrak and NJ Transit lines who will face long delays starting Monday because of repairs at the transit hub, where derailments have almost become common this year.

“I know you can always come in earlier,” he said before becoming flustered and realizing that his comments might not sit well with straphangers.

Noting a likely influx of riders on the trains between 7 and 8 a.m., he also encouraged people to try to avoid the crush by waking up earlier.

“Instead of taking the 7:05, take the 6:55,” said Lhota, who lives in Brooklyn Heights.

“We’re asking Long Islanders who take the railway to change their habits. We have to be flexible, as well.”

Commuters quickly bashed Lhota for the statement.

“He should have more compassion,” said Long Islander Rich D., who was at Penn Station on Sunday. “[The MTA] should be handling this in a better way.”

“There are so many track issues, this is like [Hurricane] Sandy,” he added, saying he planned to drive to work for the rest of the summer.

Lhota also likened the impending havoc to Sandy, but said his experience gleaned from the aftermath of the 2012 superstorm would be helpful.

“Every day this summer, we will be evaluating what’s going on,” the former Republican mayoral candidate said.

“It’s very important that we make this as efficient and as effective as possible. It’s the same type of operations center that we put in place to get the subways and the LIRR and the Metro-North Railroad back up and running after Sandy.”

Lhota added that there would be workers around various hubs to help direct straphangers through unfamiliar subway stations in order to help them get to work on time.

Riders on the affected lines will see a 20 percent reduction in service through Sept. 1, when the repairs are expected to conclude.

About 7,400 NJ Transit riders on the Morris & Essex Lines will be forced to transfer in Hoboken weekdays after 7 a.m. instead of traveling directly into Midtown Manhattan.

The diversion is expected to add 30 to 45 minutes to commutes.

PATH will accept NJ Transit tickets at Hoboken, 33rd Street and the World Trade Center stations, according to Amtrak Chief Operating Officer Scot Naparstek.

Riders can also expect new ferry routes from Long Island to Manhattan to accommodate an extra 2,300 commuters.

Two hundred extra buses will join existing service from Long Island into Manhattan.

Six Amtrak Northeast Regional Service trains between New York and Washington, DC, have been canceled.

Six Empire Service trains will run between Albany-Rensselaer and Grand Central Terminal instead of Penn Station.

Penn Station, owned by Amtrak, was forced to move up planned service work following three derailments, sewage showers and other nightmarish embarrassments over the past year.

Gov. Andrew Cuomo announced Sunday that all nonessential road construction would also be stopped in an effort to clear the roads.

The governor said thruways would resort to cashless tolls in an effort to speed traffic.