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Select-a-Branch LLC, The King of Prussia, Pa.-based ATM network,
announced Tuesday it has installed 10 ATMs along Massachusetts Bay
Transportation Authority commuter rail lines in Boston and the surrounding suburbs.
The authority, which operates bus, subway, commuter rail and ferry systems,
awarded the contract to Select-A-Branch in January. Select-A-Branch won the right to
install the machines after submitting a high bid of $264,400 for the first year of a
five-year agreement. During the balance of the contract, Select-A-Branch will pay the
auhority a fee tied to the Consumer Price Index, but not less than 2.5% of the
Consumer Price Index.
The authority's board also awarded Portland, Maine-based TD Bank North a
contract to install eight ATMs and Charlotte, N.C.-based Bank of America a contract for one ATM along the commuter rail lines. BofA, which operates the nation's
largest bank-owned ATM network with more than 18,000 machines, will pay the
authority $30,000 per year. The new leases will generate $426,000 in annual non-fare revenue, which is an increase of $226,400 compared with the
authority's last lease agreement for ATMs, Daniel A. Grabauskas, the authority's general manager, said in a statement.
Providence, R.I.-based Citizens Bank held 10 of the previous leases, but its contract
expired. Citizens leases generated $200,000 annually for the authority.
Select-A-Branch installed ATMs at Government Center, North Station,
Harvard, Quincy Adams, Porter, Copley, Hynes, Downtown Crossing, World Trade
Center and Courthouse stations.
Bostonians take more 1.1 million trips weekly on the authority's lines.
When cardholders of participating banks and credit unions insert their cards
into a Select-A-Branch ATM, the logo of the cardholder's financial institution appears
on the ATM screen. Cash withdrawals are surcharge-free for participating financial
institutions.
"Customers of nonparticipant institutions pay the surcharge themselves," says
Dan Stechow, Select-A-Branch chief operating officer. "The resulting 100% surcharge
model can, over time, dramatically increase the revenues of a given location."
Select-A-Branch recently signed an ATMmanagement
deal with the U.S. Postal Service
