New York City’s long-suffering commuters might be wise to avoid a glittering new subway stop on the No. 7 line that opened Sunday at Hudson Yards on the West Side of Manhattan. After seeing the $2.4 billion station that has ignited a burst of development in this once-grim industrial area, riders may find it hard to return to the grime so typical of New York City’s vast 660-mile public transit system. And while no single station can be as sleek, efficient and “air tempered” as this one, commuters will almost certainly find themselves asking why the system as a whole cannot be greatly improved.

That’s a big question that Gov. Andrew Cuomo should be first in line to answer, followed by Mayor Bill de Blasio. Mr. Cuomo controls the Metropolitan Transportation Authority, and thus the purse strings of the nation’s largest public transit system. Instead of quibbling about financing, as he’s been doing, he needs to put up the money to help fill a $15 billion shortfall in the M.T.A.’s $32 billion capital plan. Coupled with additional contributions from the city, this could upgrade the entire system and help the city jump-start another much-needed station on the No. 7 line at 41st Street and 10th Avenue.

Finger-pointing about who pays what surfaced at an otherwise sunny event marking the opening of the new station, a project begun in 2005 to link an uninviting neighborhood to the 7 line to Queens. The M.T.A. chairman, Thomas Prendergast, challenged Mr. de Blasio to raise the city’s modest capital contribution, to which Mr. de Blasio replied by pointing out that the city makes a major contribution to the system’s operating budget.

The city, under Michael Bloomberg, was largely responsible for the new station, and Mr. de Blasio, should he choose to go forward with another station, could do worse than emulate the Bloomberg strategy. The essence of that strategy was to float bonds that would be paid for by tax revenues from the new development that Mr. Bloomberg and one of his deputy mayors, Daniel Doctoroff, confidently predicted would precede and follow the new extension.