Remote management and better security for every facility key

Customer

Foothill Transit

Market

Transport & Logistics

Company Size

Group

Country

United States

Reliable and efficient key management
Biometric authentication secures access to fare box keys.

Foothill Transit is California’s largest public bus company, serving over 7 million passengers yearly. They serve over 300 square miles of Southern California’s San Gabriel and Pomona Valleys with more than 30 local and express routes. They operate a fleet of over 350 buses fueled by low-emission compressed natural gas, zero-emission electric batteries, and hydrogen fuel cells.

Foothill Transit upgraded to new ecos electronic key cabinets for faster, more secure biometric authentication to sign out keys. Fingerprint scans were faster and more reliable than the swipe cards used in their legacy system. The new cabinets also provided wireless remote management capabilities.

Key cabinets

ecos webman

Challenge:
Legacy key management offered limited security

Foothill Transit was a public transit agency that collected 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. Most critical were fare boxes and their Revenue Vault at headquarters. These were unlocked only with physical keys, so the risk of theft and fraud could skyrocket with any lapse 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. That meant 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.

Our solution:
Combined upgrade to biometric authentication and remote management

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

The upgraded key management system also came 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 relied on a much more secure set of credentials, and users would always have them.

ecos key control cabinet at Foothill Transit

Result:
Comprehensive control over high-risk keys

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

Foothill management greatly appreciated these remote management capabilities, but the speed and security of fingerprint authentication were more impactful to frontline staff. They could get fare box and revenue vault keys whenever needed, even if they forgot their swipe card. 

Lastly, thanks to the ecos care program, they appreciated knowing their new ecos key management system was futureproofed. Their key cabinet software would stay updated automatically and be optimized to use the fastest regional networks available when future upgrades are rolled out.

Key numbers

350+

Keys

Facilities

7 million

passengers annually