New Jersey is looking for a private operator to collect tolls on the New Jersey Turnpike, the Garden State Parkway, and the Atlantic City Expressway.
Responses to a request for proposals are due March 7. Officials are looking to select a winning bidder by April 27.
The New Jersey Turnpike Authority oversees the Turnpike and the Parkway. The South Jersey Transportation Authority operates the Expressway.
The two state authorities are seeking ways to potentially lower their labor costs, including by privatizing manual toll collections. Union contracts with current employees of both authorities will expire later this year. The Turnpike currently employees more than 800 toll collectors.
The top annual salary is $65,760 for full-time Turnpike toll collectors and $64,562 for Parkway collectors, according to Turnpike spokesman Tom Feeney. The Turnpike authority allocated $38 million for full-time and part-time salary costs for fiscal 2011, which began Jan. 1.
The winning contractor must pay toll collectors a minimum of $12 per hour for full-time employees and $10 per hour for part-time workers, according to the RFP.
“We are looking to provide the same quality of service at a lower cost,” Feeney said. “And we’ve identified this as a way to save us some money.”
The 148-mile Turnpike has 134 manual lanes that collected nearly $200 million in more than 62 million transactions in 2009. The Parkway is 173 miles long and has 34 manual collection spots. Cash transactions in staffed lanes generated $36.7 million in 2009 in 43 million transactions.
The 44-mile Expressway currently operates with 18 manual lanes in addition to automatic coin-machine lanes and E-ZPass lanes. The roadway collected $82.1 million of total toll revenue in 2009.
