Page 34 - Security Today, March 2017

Mass Transit
Owners of newly-built Lackawanna Transit Center implement the Omnicast IP Video Surveillance System to enhance remote monitoring and tenant operations
BTy Andrew Elvish
he County of Lackawanna Transit System (COLTS) is the municipal authority for public transport in the city of Scranton, PA, and its surrounding areas. COLTS operates 29 public bus routes through Lackawanna County and parts of Luzerne County, and provides
specialty transportation for disabled and senior passengers.
COLTS recently completed construction on the Lackawanna Transit Center, a $12.5 million intermodal facility in downtown Scranton. The new facility is now the central transport hub, where passengers are provided shelter and seating while they wait for COLTS buses as well as Martz Trailways buses, which provide longer-
distance transport to destinations outside the county.
COLTS decision-makers knew that having a state-of-the-art secu- rity system in the new intermodal facility would help protect the influx of passengers who visit the center from various locations in the United
States, and ensure passenger safety in and around the terminal. Relying on the advice of architects and engineers, COLTS chose to work with Communication Systems Inc. (CSi), a local and highly- knowledgeable security integrator, who installed Security Center, the
unified security platform from Genetec.
Sharing the Benefits
The Omnicast IP video surveillance system of Security Center cur- rently manages more than 30 Bosch IP cameras in and around the property. The operational staff at COLTS actively monitors the cam-
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eras from a primary corporate site and bus terminal which is located outside of downtown Scranton.
According to Robert Fiume, executive director at COLTS, “We have a remote connection to the system which we can access from our desks to spot check and see what’s going on at the facility. The sys- tem has been very easy to use, and the video quality within Security Center is excellent.”
On site at the Lackawanna Transit Center, COLTS’ tenant, Martz Trailways has been provided access to the video surveillance system. With the help of CSi, they were able to partition the system and cre- ate specific access rights and privileges for Martz users. Customer service agents at Martz Trailways watch the video to make sure buses arrive on schedule, and then announce when and where buses are loading to passengers.
Federating Systems for Greater Collaboration
When monitoring the video surveillance system, COLTS is always looking out for suspect bags lying around, or any other safety con- cerns such as the speed at which buses come into the facility or areas that would require improvements for passenger safety.
In the event that Fiume or other COLTS managerial staff are away from the office when an incident is reported, they can quickly pull up real-time streamed video on their smart phones using the Se- curity Center Mobile feature.
CRITICAL INFRASTRUCTURE