Miami Dade may do own SunPass customer service - bids require option to take over from FTE (FOLLOW-UP)

Miami Dade Expressway Authority's (MDX) procurement of a cashless toll system planned to begin procurement early September will ask for an option to take over customer service from Florida Turnpike Enterprise's SunPass, says Steve Andriuk, director of operations. Our earlier report - without the benefit of a conversation with Andriuk - said handling of transponder transactions would remain with FTE's SunPass.

Andriuk said this morning that MDX wants to do a procurement that provides the Miami area toll authority with flexibility - to continue having FTE manage customer service out of its statewide Boca/Orlando SunPass facilities, or to make a transition to a new MDX toll processing and customer service center.

That would be a major decision to be taken by the MDX board separately from the move to all-electronic tolling (AET).

In part the decision will revolve around whether MDX takes over the County's Rickenbacker Causeway to Key Biscayne and the Venetian Causeway toll bridges between Miami and South Beach. They have different toll schedules for frequent users that may best be handled locally.

In any case image or video processing - which is going to multiply hugely without cash - will be handled directly by the chosen MDX contractor out of a video customer service center.

What happens to the collectors?

Andriuk also shed light on the labor transition issues of going cashless.

He says that a considerable number of the toll collectors on the MDX expressways have been on the job at toll booths for ten or fifteen years despite changes in their direct employer.

"They've gone through working for FDOT, then the Turnpike, then a couple of different contractors, now URS/Washington Group."

Experienced workers have stayed on the job through those different employers.

Andriuk says that the authority feels a responsibility to the toll collectors and a desire to use their expertise in future roles even though there is no contractual commitment beyond July 1 2009 when the present URS/WG toll collector contract expires.

Toll collector numbers have already declined from the peak of about 180 to 90 now as the popularity of transponder tolling has increased, leaving the cash lanes more sparsely populated.

MDX is already at 80% transponder tolling, and there is great enthusiasm among customers for the new SunPass Mini sticker tags.

Andriuk says he won't be surprised if usage is in the high 80s percent on the MDX tollroads by the time cashless toll plazas are coming on line.

MDX is already beefing up the back office operations and is training toll collectors in customer service roles.

The authority operates with a 60/40 mix of permanent and temporary collectors.

Along with normal toll collector turnover - "attrition" - the retraining effort should, Andriuk says, assure few if any layoffs of the remaining collectors.

CORRECTION: The Raytheon-FTE contract for 800 new toll lanes is worth around $230m, not the $270m we wrote.

TOLLROADSnews 2008-07-25