MTA Starts Search For Firm To Set Up Congestion Pricing

NEW YORK — The MTA has officially started its search for a firm to create a first-in-the-nation tolling system in Manhattan. The transit agency's Bridges and Tunnels arm has formally asked companies to express their interest in setting up the infrastructure necessary to implement congestion pricing, a scheme to toll drivers entering Manhattan below 60th Street.

The MTA is "casting a wide net" to make sure the landmark effort uses the best technology and "innovative solutions," agency Chairman and CEO Patrick Foye said Wednesday.

"We are excited to begin the process on delivering a central business district tolling system that will be as efficient, low cost, accurate and customer friendly as possible," Foye said in a statement.

Congestion pricing is a key plank of the state budget that lawmakers approved two weeks ago. While a new panel still has to determine exactly how much to charge drivers, Gov. Andrew Cuomo's office expects the fees to raise $15 billion for MTA capital projects.

MTA Bridges and Tunnels, also known as the Triborough Bridge and Tunnel Authority, will be responsible for establishing the tolling program. It has issued an open call to companies called a request for expressions of interest in an effort to hear from a variety of firms before it officially solicits bids for the project, the MTA said.

The request, dated Tuesday, also spells out the MTA's preferences for the tolling system. In addition to cutting traffic congestion and maximizing revenue, the system should "minimize the infrastructure footprint" and allow for integration with outside payment applications, the document says.

While Cuomo's office has said that drivers will not be charged before the end of 2020, the MTA's request says the tolling system should "(b)egin revenue operations at the earliest date."

Bridges and Tunnels expects to issue a request for proposals in the second quarter of this year to pick the company that will design, build, run and maintain the system, the document says.

There's plenty of work to be done to make congestion pricing a reality aside from the infrastructure. The state budget tasked Bridges and Tunnels with setting up the six-member Traffic Mobility Review Board, which will make recommendations about exemptions and credits in addition to the tolls, Cuomo's office has said.