Small Kiwi Company Brings Traffic to a Stand Still in London

New Zealand company Traffic Systems Limited, recently won an international tender to supply Pedestrian Countdown Timers to Transport for London (TfL).

An incredible opportunity that has been three years in the making, started when TfL reported alarming statistics stating 21% of London’s fatal and serious pedestrian injuries take place at pedestrian crossings.

Mayor of London, Boris Johnson, believed that enough was enough and personally championed the issuing of an international tender for traffic system companies to try and reduce this number of incidents - particularly as the feet of the world will be walking London streets for the 2012 Olympics.

“The certainty of having a timer also means that we should see less of the lethal last-minute dashes across the road, that as well as being highly dangerous, can disrupt the journeys of other road users waiting at the lights,” said Johnson.

“My hope is that by next year Londoners will be able to use this technology on much more crossings,” he said.

Traffic Systems Limited (TSL) submitted a proposal and despite being at the polar opposite end of the world, beat other major traffic and pedestrian service providers to successfully win the bid to supply the Pedestrian Countdown Timers.

This is no small undertaking; the UK has currently 60,000 active intersections – London city alone has 6000 active intersections requiring Pedestrian Countdown Timers (PCaT’s).

The PCaT is a system that provides pedestrians with clear information about how long they have to cross a road. Currently active in Queen Street, Auckland and other major metro areas in New Zealand – they are now also active on Oxford Circus, one of the busiest intersections in London.

Privately-owned, Traffic Systems Limited is a specialist traffic signals business that has been successfully servicing the traffic and roading market in New Zealand for over 20 years. They have developed a winning PCaT system that is fully compliant with the specifications and requirements to operate in some of the busiest intersections in Britain as part of Boris Johnson’s ‘smoothing traffic flow agenda’.

The success in winning the international tender highlights yet again that kiwi ingenuity - backed by an effective service culture - can win business anywhere in the world, even the toughest marketplaces.

Traffic Systems Director Andrea Ransley said, “We’ve been working on this for over three years and have put an enormous amount of effort into it.

“We’re absolutely delighted to have beaten the rest of the world to win the contract,” she said.

www.trafficsys.co.nz