South Wales Business helps NPT Council find right technology to keep bus-only routes clear

Like many councils, Neath Port Talbot council uses security road blockers and tag systems to ensure certain roads can only be used by public transport operators.

After more than 20 years of maintenance, the council needed to upgrade their existing system and were impressed with the anti-ram traffic control protection solution provided by Frontier Pitts.  However, to enable the automatic rising and lowering of the security height road blocker as vehicles approached, vehicles would need to be fitted with tags – this meant that a new system for reading the tags would be needed.

Technology in tag systems has advanced considerably in recent years.  Frontier Pitts recommended trusted Welsh supplier Nortech Controls, who specialise in providing tag reading solutions for businesses across the UK.

Swansea University had already fitted new tag readers in 2018, and vehicles accessing the Neath routes would ideally need to use the same tags to access both sites, however the council also needed a tag reading system that would also offer some resistance against vandalism which had been an issue in the area.

Nortech, who are based in Cwmbran, met with the council, considered their specific challenges and recommended UPASS Target Readers as the best technology to meet their objectives.

With a 10-metre read range, the readers could be mounted on high access control posts, reducing opportunities for vandalism, they remain operational in all weathers and utilise inexpensive UHF tags which can be easily fitted to vehicles – and crucially, these are the same tags used by the Swansea University site, meaning vehicles can easily access both sites.

The new system was fitted in 2020 and is already working well, preventing unauthorised traffic from accessing the route while maintaining easy access for public transport operators.

Neath Port Talbot Council said:

“After twenty years of maintenance and support, our local traffic control system needed to be upgraded. We are pleased we could work with Frontier Pitts and Nortech Controls again with the new installation.”

Image credit: https://www.frontierpitts.com/products/blockers/security-blockers/road-blocker/?_gallery=gg-36-405