Slow Going for N.Y. Traffic Plan

Benjamin counts himself as green-friendly; he rides a bike, has traveled on most of the city's subway lines and said he didn't even have a driver's license until 1990, when he was in his 30s. But when he heard that congestion pricing was being pushed because of the successful experiment in London, he said, "The last good thing to come out of Britain was radar."

"I wasn't trying to bash the British," Benjamin said. But, he added: "Britain has been rationing things since 1945. In America, we don't ration things."

In other words: Americans like to drive, and sometimes they need to drive into Midtown Manhattan.

Congestion pricing is also in use in Stockholm and Singapore.

The Assembly leader, Democrat Sheldon Silver, will decide Monday whether to bring the question up for a vote. That day marks a federal deadline for the city to receive an extra $340 million in federal transportation funds, if congestion pricing becomes law by midnight.

Much of the debate has less to do with the merits of congestion pricing than with the intricacies of New York politics. Bloomberg won election as a Republican and last year became an independent, and he has constantly met opposition to his plans in the Democratic-controlled Assembly. "There's a good deal of resistance towards Mike Bloomberg in the legislature," said Gene Russianoff, senior attorney for the Straphangers Campaign, a transit research group.

Benjamin and others said they were moved to oppose congestion pricing after learning that Bloomberg won support for the plan in the City Council with promises of pet projects and political aid in future campaigns -- campaigns that could target Democrats in Albany.

Congestion pricing opponents also have a powerful ally in New Jersey Gov. Jon S. Corzine. A Democrat who touts a strong environmental record, Corzine was angered when the City Council made a change to the plan that he felt would unfairly penalize New Jersey drivers.

Initially, New Jersey's "bridge and tunnel" commuters, as they are called here, would have been exempt from the new congestion fees, since they already pay $8 in tolls to come into Manhattan. But the council voted to add $3 to $4 to that toll, unless the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey, which controls the bridges and tunnels, agrees to give New York City $1 billion to fund mass-transit projects.

"I think New Jersey is already paying congestion pricing," Corzine said recently. "The last time I checked, we have an $8 toll." In a statement, he said, "Unless this plan treats all drivers fairly, I am prepared to pursue legal action to protect New Jersey commuters from this outrageous action."

Proponents have not given up on congestion pricing for Manhattan. They note that in Albany, business often gets done at the last minute, with unrelated bills passing unexpectedly in a series of delicate late-night bargains -- a process known in state political circles as the "big ugly."

Also, Albany-watchers and business representatives said that Paterson, a longtime state senator, has much warmer relations with lawmakers and a better feel for the give-and-take of dealmaking than did former governor Eliot L. Spitzer, who resigned last month after being caught in an FBI investigation of a prostitution ring.

"Both reporters and elected officials only do what they have to do when they're on deadline," Russianoff said.