City Hall wants to charge drivers to go to Manhattan without asking why they use their cars, or how to change the conditions that impel them to.

It takes about 30 minutes to drive from Riverdale, Kingsbridge or Van Cortlandt Village to Manhattan's central business district, and close to an hour to get there by express bus or subway. A Metro-North train takes just 25 minutes to Grand Central Station, but most riders have to add time on each end to get to and from the station.

Now, Mayor Bloomberg, can you understand why 45 percent of local commuters get to work by car, and why the mood of most of the 100 or so who attended Assemblyman Jeffrey Dinowitz's forum on congestion pricing at Riverdale Temple last week ranged from uneasy to angry at your proposal to impose an $8 charge on drivers who travel below 86th Street between 6 a.m. and 6 p.m.?

But there's worse to come. The impact of the mayor's proposal will fall at least as heavily on local residents who don't drive to Manhattan, as on those who do. For, as it's currently structured, congestion pricing will make the most heavily-traveled artery in Riverdale more congested, not less.

The MTA intends to eventually ratchet-up the toll on the Henry Hudson Bridge to $5. But Mr. Bloomberg proposes deducting the cost of the toll from the congestion price, so that the cost of driving to Manhattan would remain $8, whether you took the Broadway Bridge, the Major Deegan Expressway or the parkway. Under the mayor's plan, the parkway is also to be used as a free bypass for drivers bound for destinations outside the congestion zone.

Taken together, these proposals would provide an incentive to those who persist in driving to take the Henry Hudson Parkway.

Now, add the city Department of Transportation's proposal to permit small trucks and other commercial vehicles on the parkway in Manhattan. What you get is more traffic, more backups and a permanently clogged, heavily-polluted roadway through the heart of Riverdale.

Yes, the private car is a major contributor to air pollution and global warming; but City Hall's Manhattan-centric approach is all stick and no carrot. It doesn't address the flaws that lead people to forsake public transportation.