Congestion pricing now in Cuo slow lane

The chances of congestion pricing being enacted this year are “tenuous at best” — but there’s still a chance for a “phased in” plan, Gov. Cuomo said Friday.

During an interview on WNYC radio, Cuomo acknowledged that his plan to enact a congestion charge is not likely to become part of the new state budget, which is due April 1.

“It’s tenuous at best right now — across the board,” he said, when asked if the GOP-controlled state Senate was on board.

Cuomo and the entire Legislature are up for re-election this year — and politicians don’t like to raise taxes or fees in a year when their names are on the ballot.

But the governor insisted he’s still “cautiously optimistic” that “we can start the process” with for-hire vehicles that include Uber and Lyft.

“I think that would be phased in and I’m hoping to start with the first phase of for-hire vehicles,” Cuomo said later on NY1.

“A lot of the congestion comes from these new Ubers and Lyfts which stay in the central business district, the business district of Manhattan, and we’re looking for a surcharge on those vehicles that are in the zone, and [will] dedicate that funding to the subway funding long term and use it as step one in an overall congestion-pricing plan.”

Assembly Democrats are backing a plan that would add a $1 fee on each ride by app-based car services statewide.

In Manhattan below 96th Street, the fee would be $2.75, while regular taxis would get slapped with a 50-cent charge.

Cuomo didn’t say if he’d support that particular proposal.

But the governor seemed to back away from another controversial idea — the “value capture of property taxes” to fund transit improvements.

Under that plan, the state would grab a portion of property taxes paid by commercial properties near subway stations to fund tran- sit improvements.

But Cuomo said he would not push such a proposal without City Hall’s blessing. He noted that former Mayor Mike Bloomberg used the property-funding mechanism to extend the No. 7 train to the Javits Center/Hudson Yards.

“That’s only if the city would want to do it,” Cuomo said.

On another front, the governor defended himself against charges from Democratic rival Cynthia Nixon that the state doesn’t spend enough for schools.

“We spend more than anyone else, how much more do you want to spend?” Cuomo said.

“It’s who gets the funds and what is the equity — the racial equity, geographic equity.

“New York City funds 1,600 schools. What percentage of that funding goes to poor minority schools? What percentage goes to high-performing predominantly white schools? Nobody knows because the Board of Education has never published those numbers. How can that possibly be?”