Case Study: King County Department of Transportation achieves reliable on‑board passenger WiFi and centralized remote management with Cradlepoint

King County, Washington, Brings Cradlepoint On Board to Deliver Passenger WiFi to Commuters

King County Department of Transportation needed a cost-conscious, reliable way to deliver passenger WiFi on its RapidRide commuter buses to serve a highly “wired” ridership. After testing multiple options, the County selected Cradlepoint—deploying Cradlepoint COR Series routers with Cradlepoint NetCloud Manager (and CradleCare support) to meet requirements for durability, remote manageability, and low total cost of ownership.

Cradlepoint’s solution was installed in 113 buses and managed centrally via NetCloud Manager, allowing IT staff to push updates and troubleshoot 100-plus devices without visiting vehicles. The deployment supports up to 64 passengers per router, serves a system with about 30,000 daily riders, has enabled more than 5,500 passenger connections to date, and—per county surveys—about half of RapidRide riders have used the onboard WiFi (20–30% use it every trip), improving uptime and operational efficiency.

King County Department of Transportation

Greg Debo

IT Project Manager