Remote management and better security for every facility key

Foothill Transit is a public transit agency that collects cash for many fares on their 350 buses. They needed a secure, reliable method for controlling who could access cash at several touchpoints in their operations. The most critical areas were the cash-operated ticket machines and the revenue safe at headquarters. These could only be unlocked with physical keys, so the risk of theft and fraud increased with every gap in key security.

Foothill maintained key management cabinets in two operation maintenance facilities in their region and their headquarters in West Covina, California. To access fare boxes or the vault, staff first authenticated themselves at a key terminal with their swipe card to receive a key.  Each cabinet was connected to the local network, which meant only personnel in each building could manage keys and users. Thus, any change in staffing or key access needs required all cabinets to be updated independently. Any oversight or lapse in updating left keys exposed to theft.

ecos upgraded all three Foothill Transit facilities with new cabinets and into an integrated, wireless-enabled electronic key management system. Now, administrators at Foothill can connect to manage key cabinets over a secure cellular internet connection from any facility.

They now have a unified management system for keys across their entire organization. Administrators at headquarters can update users and key access permissions at all of their facilities in a single update.

The upgraded key management system is also equipped with biometric fingerprint access control for better security. Foothill’s swipe cards used for access control on the old system were easy to lose and duplicate by a determined attacker. Fingerprint access control relies on a much more secure set of credentials that users always have with them.

ecos key control cabinet at Foothill Transit

By modernizing its facilities, Foothill Transit can now manage all aspects of key security itself, anytime and anywhere. The administrator can monitor transactions from anywhere, add or revoke access to keys on demand, and trigger remote key signouts for emergencies.

Foothill's management greatly appreciates these remote management features, but the speed and security of fingerprint authentication is of even greater importance to the on-site staff. They can now get fare box and revenue vault keys whenever needed, even if they forgot their swipe card.

Thanks to the ecos care program, their new ecos key management system is future-proof. Their key cabinet software stays automatically updated and is optimized to use the fastest regional networks available when future upgrades are rolled out.