Cashless in New York City - AET soon on Henry Hudson Bridge

America's largest toller MTAB&T in New York City is moving to convert its toll collection at the Henry Hudson Bridge to all-electronic or cashless. The project was buried in a long list of decisions announced this morning  by Jay H Walder, chairman of the New York Metropolitan Transportation Authority (MTA) whose Bridges & Tunnels division (MTAB&T) or subsidiary the Triborough Bridge and Tunnel Authority is the largest grossing toll authority in the US.

The move is described as a "test" but that probably just reflects the ultra-cautious temperament at the organization. MTAB&T is the last major toll authority in the US to keep gates.

Nowhere has any toller ever abandoned all-electronic tolling (AET) and returned to cash toll collection.

Heavy ET use already

AET would be a huge advance for MTAB&T patrons since at present all their toll collection, even including the 75% with E-ZPass involves a near-stop forced by gates. MTAB&T was quite an early adopter of electronic tolling (ET) in the 1990s but has made no advance since that time - there's not a single open road toll lane in their system.

From one of the most advanced in toll technologies this stagnation in technology has left the authority one of the most backward in north America.

The Henry Hudson Bridge (HHB) which opened at the end of 1936 links Spuyten Duyvil in Bronx and Inwood in Manhattan over the western end of the Harlem River quite close to its confluence with the Hudson River. A steel arch bridge it has a double deck atop the arch, the upper deck carrying 3 lanes of northbound traffic, the lower 4 lanes southbound.

The bridge has an unusual toll plaza located on the Manhattan side of seven toll lanes each direction, the toll plaza being at two levels as the two directions of traffic merge/diverge. The approaches and departures from the plaza are both very short and quite abrupt, demanding low  traffic speeds.

"Getting into 21st century"

MTA in a report released today say the project will "Bring Toll Collection into the 21st Century."

They note that "more than two dozen toll agencies worldwide have implemented or are planning to implement all electronic toll collection."

They say that taking advantage of "this information and experience, we are moving forward with plans to test state-of-the-art technology that allows all motorists to pay tolls without stopping at the Henry Hudson Bridge."

They add: "This approach has the added potential to reduce the cost of handling cash and avoid the
cost of replacing the current plazas."

A novel aspect of the plan is a proposal for cash pre-payment of all-electronic tolls:

"About 25 percent of customers still pay the higher cash toll, including people who do not always have access to a credit card or who wish to monitor cash flow more closely.

They say MTA will "partner with a bank or other financial institution this year to develop a way for customers to pay for E-ZPass by depositing cash at ATM machines or other convenient payment outlets."

They also plan to expand E-ZPass transponder usage with greater availability of "pre-paid, prepackaged E-ZPass-on-the-Go tags"  at retail stores.

Introduction of all-electronic tolling at the Henry Hudson Bridge is also said by mTA today to save on the costs of replacing the current toll plazas.

BACKGROUND: The Henry Hudson Bridge (HHB) was an integral component of the 17.8km, 11.1 mile long Henry Hudson Parkway built by the Henry Hudson Parkway Authority since merged into the Triborough Bridge and Tunnel Authority, now part of MTA Bridges and Tunnels (MTAB&T).

The Parkway of which the bridge is the centerpiece was one of New York City powerbroker Robert Moses' great accomplishments. Original construction was from 1933 to 1937, and there was major rebuilding from the late 1970s through the mid-80s and further major rehab in 2005.

The bridge has a main span of 256m (840ft) and a total length of 673m (2209ft). It provides 43m (143ft) of vertical clearance under the center of the main span.

Designed by the famous engineer David Steinman it was the world's longest such steel-plate girder arch bridge when it opened Dec 12 1936 and remains a spectacular sight.

The first toll in 1937 was 10c. The bridge opened as a single deck 2+2 side-by-side lanes bridge. But traffic was so much heavier than expected that in less than two years a second top deck was added. From then it was operated as 3 northbound lanes atop 4 southbound lanes.

The bridge underwent a $50m rehab in 2005 in which orthotropic steel decks were retrofitted, approaches upgraded and the toll plaza improved. CREDIT: to Steve Anderson Bridge and Tunnel Facts.

Tolls are currently $3.00 cash and $2.09 E-ZPass.

Average traffic is around 70k/day.

Only vehicles allowed on parkways - no trucks, buses, or bicycles - can use the HHB.

Robert Caro, Moses biographer quotes Moses as describing his plan for the parkway and bridge to a leading political figure Francis Perkin as they traveled a Hudson River ferry nearby and exclaiming: "Couldn't this be the most beautiful thing in the world?"

The HHB is an integral part of NY state route 9A an arterial that runs the length of the western edge of Manhattan as 12th Avenue and a surface street from the Battery to 57th Street in Midtown. From 57th to 72nd St NY9A is Westside Highway, and from there north it is Henry Hudson Parkway - a 1930s standard light vehicles-only  expressway. At the Westchester County line NY9A forms the southern end of the Saw Mill Parkway, one of four parkways that give that area so much charm.

The Henry Hudson Bridge may have been chosen for the test of all-electronic tolling (AET) because a relatively high proportion of transactions are by E-ZPass transponder 84% weekdays v 78% for all nine MTAB&T toll crossings. Only the Brooklyn Battery Tunnel at 85% E-ZPass is higher.

Henry Hudson Bridge is one of nine toll bridges and tunnels operated by MTAB&T.

MTAB&T

MTAB&T has 3.2m E-ZPass electronic toll transponders in use, doing 74.9% of transactions (as reported in December 2009). Average daily transactions at the MTAB&T toll facilities have been in slow decline since a high of 837k in 2007 but since mid-2009 have stabilized running around 800k.

Toll revenue last year was tentatively put at $1,313m with an average toll of $4.57 and 287m tolls taken. Operating expenses were $425m and after depreciation and other expenses "Net Income" or profit was around $900m. MTAB&T has 1815 equivalent full time positions.

on MTAB&T:

http://www.mta.info/bandt/index.html

on the parkway:

http://www.nycroads.com/roads/henry-hudson/

on the bridge:

http://www.nycroads.com/crossings/henry-hudson/

see item 5 here:

http://www.mta.info/news/pdf/pdf%20100%20days%20lo%20res.pdf

TOLLROADSnews 2010-01-15