Delayed Commuters Captive Audience For Mayor's Congestion Pitch

NEW YORK — Mayor Bill de Blasio injected his congestion-pricing evangelism into a rough Thursday commute on the 4 train. The mayor's midday trip from City Hall to 110th Street came amid nasty delays on the line and negotiations over the state budget, which he argues is the key to the subway's future.

The express train zipped uptown to Union Square and then to Grand Central Terminal without any big problems despite signal failures in Brooklyn messing up the 2, 3, 4 and 5 lines. But Defne Celikoyar was already running late when de Blasio handed her a postcard urging her to contact her state representatives.

"We were stuck here for 15 minutes today, so I think I’m gonna be late for my job interview," Celikoyar told the mayor. The Bronx-bound rider said her train got trapped between Franklin and Atlantic avenues in Brooklyn.

Another rider from East New York wearing a Starbucks hat said he was "very annoyed" and 10 minutes late for work.

"It’s just always some problems going on," the straphanger said. "... We have people that wanna get to work on time, trying to just enjoy their day, and it’s always an issue."

Straphangers nonetheless embraced de Blasio's push to fund the MTA with revenue from congestion pricing — a plan to toll vehicles entering Manhattan's central core — and other sources.

Thursday marked the mayor's fourth trip on the subway to promote congestion pricing since he joined Gov. Andrew Cuomo in backing the idea late last month. He told riders to make their voices heard so the state Legislature passes a plan by April 1 as part of the state budget.

"It doesn’t happen by April 1, it’s gonna be a lot harder to make it happen later," de Blasio told a straphanger named Victoria. "So we need people to call their representatives and say this really matters."

The mayor hustled across the platform at Grand Central to grab the 6 train to East Harlem for an unrelated news conference. But state lawmakers there were not as enthusiastic about congestion pricing, though Sen. Brian Benjamin (D-Manhattan) said Senate Democrats generally support the idea.

Assemblywoman Rodneyse Bichotte said she could not support congestion pricing in its current form, citing skepticism from her constituents about how the MTA is spending the money it already has.

"We are just kind of deliberating and finding alternative ways," Bichotte, a Brooklyn Democrat, said. "Congestion pricing’s not the only way that we can find a way to change behavior or even fund MTA."

The mayor did not get into granular detail with riders about his and Cuomo's MTA plan, which also calls for revenue from marijuana and internet sales taxes and a restructuring of the agency.

But straphangers seemed amenable to a proposal that could assuage the subway's frequent problems. Celikoyar said she supports congestion pricing because the trains "need fixing."

"I really hope that it makes a difference," she said.

A couple commuters wanted to talk with the mayor about other transit issues. Victoria expressed concerns about safety, saying she has experienced "some really uncomfortable subway rides" in the last year. De Blasio assured her that she would see more police in the system as crime drops above ground.

Another rider thanked de Blasio for averting the dreaded L train shutdown — which was actually Cuomo's doing. But the mayor gave credit where it was due.

"The governor made the ultimate decision and has the ultimate control of the MTA," he said. "But we are gonna make sure that we address everything that goes on around it."