EXOR HITS 1,000000 MARK WITH TMA COMPLIANT NOTICES

17 December 2008, 9:51pm

- Landmark notice was sent from Virgin Media to Transport for London -

Exor Corporation, the UK’s largest supplier of Street Works systems, today announced it has handled one million TMA (Traffic Management Act) notices since the 1st April 2008. This significant milestone was achieved on the 4th December with a transaction between Virgin Media and Transport for London, on Exor’s TMA Managed Service.

Since the introduction of the Act on the 1st April 2008 Exor’s Managed Services team has handled over one Million works notices making it the UK’s single largest generator of TMA notices. The number of transactions undertaken has tested the robust system ensuring over 25 Street Works Databases are capable of working with EToN 4 and EToN 5 simultaneously, a critical factor with the move to introduce EToN 5 notices on the 12th January 2009.

Pete Rogers, Exor’s Street Works Product Manager, explains, “Breaking the 1,000,000 barrier is a significant step forward for the TMA as it illustrates Local Authorities and Works Promoters are embracing the collaborative working processes the Act was introduced to promote, which in turn will enable us to dramatically reduce levels of disruption caused by congestion across the UK and optimise road usage.”

The 1,000,000 notice sent through the Exor system was from Virgin Media to Transport for London (TfL) for a minor excavation on Foxley Lane in Croydon, at 09:34am on 4th December 2008.

TfL is also one of the first organisations hoping to roll out a permitting scheme in 2009 and the success of its use of noticing under TMA to date is fundamental to these plans.

As Rogers concludes, “Critics have suggested that noticing and consequently permitting will have a limited impact on the key areas TMA was introduced to address. However, taking into account how many notices have been processed since April through our Managed Service and the predicted fourfold increase in noticing when permits go live, it is clear that if the supporting technology is robust enough then TMA is highly effective. At Exor, we will continue to invest heavily in software development in order to provide Local Authorities and works promoters with the technology platform to maximise the value of the TMA.”

Looking at what the numbers might mean from a commercial perspective Russell Loarridge VP Sales at Exor commented; “The disparity between Local Authorities and Utilities as to the relevance of the proposed permitting system has been palpable. Exor published research that highlighted the differences between the factions where one was accusing the other of getting in the way of progress and the other countering with accusations of a stealth tax.”

He goes on to note; “The simple fact that the numbers are so high dissolves the arguments on both sides leaving it clear that a simple 1% improvement in efficiency will mean 10,000 holes not dug at inconvenient times to the public or shortening the disruption by a day. This could translate into 10,000 man days of reduced disruption to the citizen and a potential 10,000 days reduction in the man power paid for by the utilities in undertaking the works. It seems that the dramatic success of EToN 4 noticing, as evidenced by the Exor hosted service, will drive a truck through the arguments of the squabbling factions and see the swift introduction of Permitting to the benefit of both parties and ultimately UK PLC and the tax payer.”

Editor's Note: *Electronic Transfer of Notices (EToN) is the standard for noticing street works on the UK’s road network between works promoters (primarily Utilities) and Local Authorities. Defined under the New Roads and Street Works Act 1991 (NRSWA) a reclassification occurred under the Traffic Management Act 2004 to EToN4.

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