March 16, 2005
Buffalo (N.Y.) News: M&T Bank Corp. is hoping to recapture an attractive ATM contract for the New York State Thruway when it comes up for rebidding, expected later this year.
The Buffalo-based bank had operated ATMs at 27 service areas along the 496-mile highway until last July, when its contract for machines at 16 of the areas expired.
The 16 service areas in question, which are anchored by Burger King restaurants, are operated by Bethesda, Md.-based HMSHost Corp., which put the contract for ATMs out for a new round of bidding last year. Although M&T bid, the new contract went to a nonbank ATM company, Tomahawk Technologies, which installed its own machines.
M&T still has rights for the remaining 11 service areas, which are run by McDonald's Corp. under a separate contract, for the next eight years. But the bank expects the lost contract to be up for bid again in the fall, and "we are aggressively pursuing it again," said spokesman C. Michael Zabel.