Mayor de Blasio undercut Gov. Cuomo’s push for a congestion-pricing plan Monday, saying it’ll never get through the state Legislature.
Previously, the mayor had relied almost exclusively on the argument that such a plan had no chance of gaining approval from the GOP-controlled state Senate, even though the most recent bid to pass such a plan was blocked by Assembly Democrats in 2008.
“I’ve never been in favor of this strategy. I’ve never seen an example of it that I thought was fair,” de Blasio said in Brooklyn Monday.
“I’m always going to keep an open mind, but . . . I just happen to be someone who does not believe in it.”
He also said former Mayor Mike Bloomberg’s plan to reduced traffic congestion in Manhattan — by charging drivers in heavily used areas $8 during peak hours — wasn’t fair to the outer boroughs.
Cuomo spokesman Jon Weinstein said: “Congestion pricing is an idea whose time has come, and we would expect that anyone interested in real, achievable solutions to the decades-long problems plaguing the city’s transportation network would join with us.”