The board of New York's Metropolitan Transportation Authority on Friday approved a series of measures intended to advance Gov. Andrew Cuomo's push for open-road electronic tolling at the authority's crossings.
In response to board members who sought cost particulars, MTA Bridges and Tunnels President Donald Spero said the net operating cost would be around $50 million per year. "The full cost won't hit until 2018, when we're up and running," he said.
Cuomo wants the system in place by the end of next year.
Funding for the electronic tolling and other enhancements such as new lighting will total around $500 million overall from MTA's five-year, $27 billion capital budget. New York State will also allocate $37 million annually for security at the crossings and $100 million of federal funds for resiliency measures.
The MTA is tweaking existing contracts to bypass the competitive bid process and move more quickly. The new estimated contractor costs, according to MTA documents, include $72.9 million with Transcore LP; $31.9 million with Judlau Contracting Inc.; $30.7 million with Tully Construction Co. and $6.1 million with HNTB.
Chairman Thomas Prendergast said officials would further break down costs in writing later.
"We need to do it in the balance of the most cost-effective way, but also the most efficient and quick way," Prendergast told reporters after a rare Friday board meeting.
"I've been here now 25 years in two different stints, and we've had the tendency sometimes to focus so much on contract costs and making sure we're getting the exact amount of money out of every contract we have, but we will impact people two or three times."
The MTA had begun all-electronic tolling last year on the Henry Hudson Bridge, which connects Manhattan with the Bronx across Spuyten Duyvil Creek. Earlier this month, Cuomo announced his intention to replace toll booths with all-electronic tolling at its other intraborough crossings: Whitestone Bridge; Throgs Neck Bridge; RFK Triborough Bridge; Queens-Midtown Tunnel; Hugh L. Carey Brooklyn Battery Tunnel; Verrazano-Narrows Bridge; Marine Parkway-Gil Hodges Memorial Bridge; and Cross Bay Veterans Memorial Bridge.
The authority, a state agency and one of the largest municipal issuers with $38 billion of debt, also moved to increase fines for unpaid tolls to mitigate the risk of toll evasion, and intends to send license-plate information to the state Department of Motor Vehicles for possible registrations for repeat violators.
Some board members at Wednesday's committee meetings worried that Cuomo was strong-arming the plan through hastily.
"This sort of went from gubernatorial press conference to action in a very compressed period of time," said James Vitiello, who represents upstate Dutchess County. "It almost raises the question of are we a perfunctory board."
Lost revenue from toll violations could be "quite significant," said Vitiello. "Forget the capital costs. There would be all kinds of impacts on bond ratings and other things if we saw a loss of revenue from evasion that far exceeded that which we expect."
Transit advocate Murray Bodin of Hartsdale, N.Y., called the move long overdue.
"You have the opportunity to move forward in transportation in this area, to make it more convenient for the drivers who use your facilities," Bodin told board members. "Gov. Cuomo has said 'I want the correct kind of open-tolling,' and you're moving in that direction."
Massachusetts was expected to transition to all-electronic tolling late Friday night.
The commonwealth's Department of Transportation, which oversees the Massachusetts Turnpike, announced a grace period for drivers without transponders who can sign-up for an E-ZPass account. MassDOT also planned expanded hours at customer service centers over the weekend.
