ALBANY, New York (Reuters) - New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg's plan to free Manhattan from traffic gridlock by charging rush-hour drivers withered as state lawmakers did not vote ahead of Monday's midnight deadline.

A spokesman for Democratic Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver confirmed there would not be a vote, saying: "There was no support in the Assembly majority conference to bring the bill to the floor."

Last spring the mayor proposed raising billions of dollars for buses and subways with so-called congestion pricing, a strategy London and Singapore use.

Bloomberg has several times revived his plan, the centerpiece of 127 Earth Day proposals to make the city greener, from near-certain death. City and state lawmakers at first rejected the new $8 fees and then wrested a series of changes, including pushing the reduced-traffic zone south to below 60th St. from 86th St.

"What we are witnessing today is one of the biggest cop-outs in New York's history," said John Gallagher, a Bloomberg spokesman. He noted the city had fulfilled the Assembly's requirements by forming a commission to hold hearings and enacting a local law approving the plan.

Bloomberg had repeatedly warned that missing the deadline will cost the city $354 million in federal mass transit aid.

Democratic Assemblyman Ruben Diaz said the plan had several negatives, including failure to address traffic jams it would cause outside of Manhattan.

"It is morally reprehensible and unconscionable to subject the 1.4 million residents of the Bronx to a potential double whammy consisting of a congestion pricing tax with absolutely no guarantee that they will not be subject to yet another transit fare hike in the near future," he said.

Kevin Sheekey, a mayoral aide, had warned lawmakers on Monday morning that they risked angering voters, businesses, environmental advocates and working people if they failed to charge commuters for entering Manhattan on weekdays.