Two years before their contract is up for renewal, M&T Bank is collaborating with Binghamton University officials to install more 24-hour ATMs on campus.
The project, which could be completed as early as fall 2006, is being researched and planned.
The most likely option under consideration is to install an ATM in the Old Union, where it would be available to students all day and night. According to JoAnn Navarro, a Campus Community Services official, the ATM may be simply relocated as one of four already existing machines on campus, or it may be an additional machine.
There are currently two ATMs in the New Union, one in the Lecture Hall and one in the Events Center. The Events Center ATM can be accessed 24 hours a day. M&T removed an existing 24-hour-access ATM in the Old Union almost four years ago, and has been promising to replace it since then.
According to Mike Smyth, Student Association president, putting a 24-hour-access ATM in a more convenient location for students could be the bank’s first step in providing more services to the campus.
“Since freshman year, I’ve thought about it as one of the biggest issues, and I think there should be one in every dining hall,” Smyth said. Adding more dispersed machines on campus was one of his campaign promises during last year’s S.A. elections.
“Having a 24-hour-access ATM is a great first step, and I’d like to see them put into every community,” he said.
According to Navarro, it is likely that M&T will pay for any new machines, which cost about $25,000 each.
The University’s contract with the bank expires in 2007, at which point the University will be open to accepting new bids.
According to Smyth, paying for the ATMs themselves shortly before their contract is up for renewal allows M&T to show “an interest in the community.”
M&T Bank was unavailable for comment.
“We want to be responsive to our students’ needs, and yet still create a balance between our business partners on campus,” Navarro said.
Any building modifications and surveillance equipment necessary for the installation of the project will probably be paid for by the University.
“We are currently working with Physical Facilities to kind of scope out some of those locations for us, and then give us some estimates on what it would cost for the actual physical changes to the building,” Navarro said.
Data on the use of the four existing ATMs on campus is being compiled and analyzed to determine the needs of the students. BU officials in charge of the project are weighing the convenience for students against safety considerations involved in having an ATM open all night.
“Everything is based on foot traffic and the number of transactions and such,” said Bill Panko, the director of Campus Community Services. “It costs a lot of money for M&T to put the machines in and service them.”