JoZef, dude, this is manhattan , streets not a freeway system ...

this being said, the question is not , how much to pay for less of osmthing but how much ot pay for more of something ...

Hence the question how much drivers woudl pay to reduce their commute by 15 minutes ???

Try that on Queens ..

Kind of twisted logic to say subway users subsidize drivers. When we all know public transportation is well-subsidized.
Idea of congestion pricing not necessarily bad but need to look at other options and be clearer on objectives.
I have said before that I don't believe NYC residents driving to midtown (or Wall St area) is major factor in congestion in the area. I maintain they are few and far between - that cabs, delivery trucks and limos (car service) is by far the vast majority of traffic and limos make congestion worse when they are 'standing' -taking up curbside space waiting for next call.
If want to move traffic faster - reduce # of cabs and limos by taxing the fares extra $5 per ride.
Also, since TLC regulates the industry - insist on hybrid electric and much smaller vehicles for yellow cabs and limos.
Reduce by 75% government license plate/vehicles and special parking permits that allow they gross abuse - this includes city and state. Court system and police department are worse offenders.

Let King Juan Carlos in on the fleecing operation, him and his Cintra LOVE buying up tax funded roadways to use as private for-profit toll roads, lets just give away all of our infrastructure to foreign quasi govermental conglomerates aka public private partnerships, aka fascism. Cant wait to be fleeced.

Weirdness galore here.

This series of comments, in response to the rare piece that directly addresses the politics of the situation just shows how poorly developed a political strategy is the Mayor's congestion pricing approach. Nice shot of Weiner though, making him appear hysterical. Unfortunately his strategy is not hysterical. Hysterical would be what happens to your reader/responders the minute actual politics are brought up. They all want to do something different. Weiner on the other hand has his finger in the air and has determined, without regard to the policy value, which way the political winds blow. It is sort of an "angry white man" strategy for the next election but he has done well with that in the past. And, there is a clear class character to his jeremiads. Meanwhile all the other politicians, Markowitz, Quinn, Thompson, the whole cast of characters, are still trying to extract promises for the financial proceeds of congestion pricing that they can take credit for before supporting Mayor Mike. Ultimately they will have to distinguish themselves from Bloomberg to give their campaigns a reason for being. Weiner will by then be taking credit among the drivers in the outer boroughs for having stopped the evil rich man Bloomberg from attempting good policy.

We all know that the majority of New Yorkers do not own cars but do we know what percentage of registered voters do? My guess is that Weiner does.

Thank you for the correct observation.

Unfortunately that is about all I agree with in your post. Though you are hammering the right nails.
1) Best shot? - sorry, best shot was after 911, since that has passed this could be second best shot or third best shot, but best shot has clearly passed. And Mayor Mike let it pass, with applause from Sam Schwartz. Now we have lame duck time, always a good time to trot out good policy that you failed to push during your time in power. In my book that is not real brave, independent political thinking, recognizing the crisis at hand.
2)Status Quo scoring? while Mayor Mike let the above moment pass through his fingers he never replace the money the city sucked out of the MTA capital plan giving him substantial responsibility for both the status quo ante and post. So now it is hard for Bloomburg to make promises to the outer borough chieftans for the many worthy outstanding, undone transportation projects when most of the money raised from congestion pricing is only going to replace funds cut earlier by everyone since Koch and Cuomo.
3) MTA financial crisis? There is plenty of blame to go around for the projected crisis, but the operative word is "projected". The crisis has never hit home because the Mortgage Recording and Urban Tax revenues have remained high. The MTA cancelled a "projected" fare increase last December.
Of course in the long run there is a crisis. But I think it was Keynes (check spelling on that one too for me will you) that said "in the long run we are all dead". But that is the problem with the tax, spend and borrow cycle that drives modern American politics.

What congestion pricing does is transfer money from one group to the other. And, the MTA is cut out of part of the money raising (and control) of the entire transportation economy of which it is but one player. Why is that tranfer better than the commuter tax, or real estate taxes, or sales taxes or any other tranfers? You've made the case to me but I don't have a majority of votes on the City Council or the Assembly or the Senate. What is to keep the city from giving the congestion pricing revenues to ferry operations, or dollar vans, or stock car tracks on Staten Island?
4)Political Burden? - thats the issue and that is why the political moment has passed six years ago. I think it is doing a little consciousness raising but the hope of actually acheiving something is passing us by. Of course, when the bonds have to be paid off and people still want the Second Avenue Subway and a Ferry to the Rockaways maybe then something will happen, maybe they will just borrow more money, or to imitate Jersey, maybe sell the Brooklyn Bridge. That should be an easy way out for a few years.
5) Advertising and marketing? I guess I'd rather Bloomburg spend his money on this than his next political campaign.

When I said I didn't think NYC drivers were major source of the congestion (even though they make up more than 1/2 of people that drive to work) is that congestion in mid-town is taxis, limos, delivery trucks, service vehicles, etc.
So I'm suggesting attacking real problem of congestion - tax the cab fares and limo fares,
limit size of these vehicles and insist they switch to hybrids.
Commuters drive to work and park somewhere. (in midtown in expensive garages). They are not driving around all day for the hell of it.
I think more analysis is needed on car commuters and why driving. We know gov't workers have higher % - because of ease of getting 'parking permits' That must end...and if Bloomberg were serious he could do that immediately with state approval.
I would venture that many who drive to work in Manhattan don't work so close to subway station
(example all the hospitals along far east side).
I think the congestion pricing as proposed will be very expensive (little revenue exceeding cost to impliment and run) and not very effective.
It is easy to be for this - if you have easy access to subway and decent commute time. But for many city residents that is not the case.
My gut feeling is this is going nowhere because state will not approve.
(for the record I take subway and sometimes even walk home from Midtown)