LONG BRANCH — New Jersey Transit officials are forecasting a June resolution to a plan to privatize parking at train and bus stations across the state.

NJ Transit spokesman Paul Wyckoff said in a recent interview that the plan is to send out a formal request for proposals (RFP) in the coming months and have a statewide operator for the parking lots in place by summer .“ Our goal is to have a transfer of these assets to the operator by next June,” he said.

Wyckoff explained that the overall goal of the project, referred to as SPACES, is to have a uniform approach to parking at all bus and train terminals.

“We want a nice, uniform, excellent standard for our customers throughout New Jersey,” he said. “Parking is absolutely essential for transit, and our prime ability is providing bus and train service.

“Parking is not what we do best and, frankly, we have to spend a huge amount of money on the train and bus system,” he added. “Resources are scarce, so if we have a choice of fixing a section of the track near Red Bank and putting money into a new parking source someplace, the track is going to win.”

NJ Transit, the state’s public transportation agency, issued a request for qualifications (RFQ) for private companies interested in operating and maintaining its parking facilities at 81 train stations in 2010.

Included among the 81 train stations listed in the RFQ are Long Branch, Red Bank, Matawan, Aberdeen and Little Silver.

According to Wyckoff, there is a range of parking situations across the state, including some lots that still use slot boxes to pay for parking.

Once the contract is awarded, the operator will be required to provide certain upgrades for parking lots.

Wyckoff said that NJ Transit officials have been working at coming up with a concession agreement and that all of the bidders are given the exact same opportunity.

“Over the past year we have been working on the terms of a proposed concession agreement,” he said. “We do that as a group under strict procurement regulations and standards.

“They all have to be treated the same,” he added. “It is done in a way where any answer we give one, the others all have access to.”

He explained that the bid specifications are not open for negotiation and the terms are clear for the potential bidders.

“This concession agreement will control everything from the length of the contract to how often the concessionaire can raise prices to maintenance standards they have to live up to,” Wyckoff said. “It is not unusual in deals like this to go through three or four drafts so that everyone is comfortable with the terms, and we are on the third draft now.

“Once we finish that, the RFP will be issued,” he added. “When the RFP comes out, that will include the concession agreement.”

Wyckoff said some of the maintenance standards that would be placed on the lessee include snowplowing and paving requirements.

He said seven bidding teams consisting of an investor and a parking management company responded to the state’s request for qualifications last year, and five teams are still in the running for the contract.

According to Wyckoff, there were some misconceptions when the parking project was first announced.

“There was some confusion when this initiative first began,” he said. “It was looked at as a budget filler because we had a very large budget gap back in the spring of 2010.

“We managed to fill that, and we are in good shape budget-wise,” he added. “We are looking at this as a long-term benefit to Transit and [to] Transit’s customers.”

He went on to say the contract would include both an up-front payment as well as an annual payment.

“The way the deal will be structured, we will get an up-front payment and the money will be used to improve services and facilities throughout the transit system,” he said. “We want an ongoing stream of revenue.”

Wyckoff wouldn’t say how much the first payment would be, but he called it “significant.”

He also said that the annual payment would likely be negotiated as a percentage of revenue produced by the parking operation .

Wyckoff explained that currently the parking lots are owned and operated by NJ Transit, individual municipalities or private companies.

However, NJ Transit has the right to take back the lots it does not currently own and operate.

Wyckoff said NJ Transit would work with different entities in transitioning to the new operator.

“We will be working with the towns to have a seamless transition from the concessionaire to the towns,” he said. “In every one of those lots, there is an agreement that allows us to take back the lot.

“We don’t want this at all to be an adversarial thing, so we will be working with everybody.”

When the project was first announced, officials from Long Branch and Red Bank said that the projected changes would not have much of an impact on their agreements with NJ Transit.