Since the reelection of Mayor Bloomberg, interest around congestion pricing — where cars are charged to drive in an area, for instance, Manhattan below 59th Street. Business groups seem interested, even if the mayor has neglected to get behind the idea — at least for the moment. [As reported in an earlier Wonkster post, Bloomberg prefers reinstating the commuter tax.]This Sunday, the Daily News runs a pro and con:Paul White of Transportation Alternatives, arguing in favor, writes that cars take up too much space, and that reducing their numbers in Manhattan would benefit the 80 percent of commuters that doesn’t use them. By implementing congestion pricing while improving public transportation, he adds, London has reduced traffic in its city center without a problem.Mitchell Moss, a professor of urban policy and planning at New York University, provides the opposing view, writing that while traffic and air pollution are problems congestion pricing is not the best way to deal with either one. It would be better to address traffic problems by cutting back on free parking, he said, and the federal government should take the lead on air pollution. Congestion pricing will hurt the city’s hospitals, cultural institutions, and communities underserved by mass transit, he added.The two sides agree that mass transit improvements are essential to any solution to the city’s traffic problem.