Senate Said to Be Mulling Short-Term M.T.A. Rescue.

A proposal to add tolls to bridges over the East and Harlem Rivers to help finance the beleaguered Metropolitan Transportation Authority appears to be dead in the State Senate, as the Democratic majority is preparing to offer on Tuesday a scaled-back, short-term alternative to bail out the authority, two people briefed on that plan said. Long the third rail of interborough politics in New York City, the tolls were at the heart of a comprehensive plan drafted by Richard Ravitch, a former authority chairman, to stave off severe service cuts and fare increases for the city's subways and buses. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]