OTA has been working to address concerns in the heavy specialized carrier community regarding the over-height route clearance process required by carriers as well as problems encountered with Hydro One, as an initial step before carriers can obtain over-size overweight permits from MTO and municipalities.
This month OTA had its first of two meeting with Hydro One to discuss these issues and possible solutions. Hydro One reported to us that as a result of concerns raised by carriers, they have commenced a pilot process to greatly expand their resources devoted to the approval process for route clearances.
Hydro One also communicated they have begun to compile internal statistics on processing time lengths and have agreed to share the information with OTA going forward. This means OTA will now be able to gauge and measure whether performance standards are improving.
In addition, OTA received communication from Hydro One last week further outlining their pilot, including how they plan to better serve the heavy specialized carrier community.
OTA and Hydro One will be meeting again in October to brief one another on the progress that has been made and the feedback we have received.