To turn this plan into policy Cuomo No longer has to charm De Blasio. He will, though, have to charm Albany lawmakers.

The price is right on congestion pricing

Gov. Cuomo's congestion pricing panel just made a critical contribution to public policy, producing a potent, pragmatic plan to curb maddening Manhattan traffic and fund the subways.

From article, (Gov. Cuomo’s congestion pricing panel just made a critical contribution to public policy, producing a potent, pragmatic plan to curb maddening Manhattan traffic and fund the subways.

A plan is not a policy.

Which is why Cuomo must now twist arms in the Assembly and Senate. And de Blasio, who after months of irrational resistance rooted in phantom fears of fairness is finally coming around, must urge the city’s Albany reps to get on board.

But an equally lasting achievement of the 15-member Fix NYC commission may be building a bridge that connects the two politicians with the most at stake: Cuomo, who runs the MTA, and Mayor de Blasio, who owns the wheezing subways, and whose constituents are tired of both train dysfunction and street traffic.

 The report skillfully addressed the many complaints de Blasio has detailed since Cuomo’s transformational realization that charging drivers coming into Manhattan was essential.

Hizzoner didn’t want tolls on the East River bridges, so there would be a way for a person to drive from Brooklyn and Queens into Manhattan without paying. The panel complied.

The mayor carped about poor patients having to pay on the way to the hospital. Presbyterian, Mount Sinai and New York Hospital are outside the zone; maybe they can even concoct a carve-out for Bellevue and NYU.

Most importantly, the panel demolished de Blasio’s objections about who would pay, demonstrating that only 4% of nearly 3 million people from the boroughs drive to work in Manhattan — and most of them are well-to-do. The working poor account for an infinitesimal 0.17%, or 5,000.

Winning passage will likely require a few tweaks here and there. Half-fare MetroCards for poor folks, called Fair Fares, are a good idea and can grease the wheels.

Cuomo wants to cut bridge tolls outside the zone. We are all for it, as are borough lawmakers.

De Blasio wants all the revenues, projected in the range of $1 billion to $1.5 billion a year, dedicated to transit. 

An easy yes.)

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