Mobile Credentials or Smart Cards: What Works Best for 24/7 Depots

If your yard runs all night, your access control has to keep pace. The question we hear most from fleet and logistics leaders is simple. Should we move to mobile credentials on smartphones or stick with smart cards and fobs. Both can secure a site. The right choice depends on your people, lanes, and risk profile.

At SSP, we design access control for transportation facilities that never sleep. This guide compares mobile credentials and smart cards through the lens of operations, security, and total cost for 24 by 7 depots, transit hubs, and mixed use campuses.

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Quick summary for busy operators

  • Mobile credentials excel at rapid provisioning, instant revocation, and contractor workflows. They require careful device policy and reader coverage planning.

  • Smart cards win on predictable issuance and offline reliability. They require more badge management and reissuance for turnover.

  • The best answer for many depots is a hybrid model that maps credential types to roles, shifts, and zones.

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How each option works in a 24 by 7 environment

Mobile credentials

  • Lives inside a secure app or native wallet on a user phone

  • Uses BLE or NFC at readers for tap or near tap

  • Can be issued or revoked in seconds and scoped by role, zone, and schedule

  • Supports temporary passes for vendors and visitors

Smart cards and fobs

  • Physical token with encrypted chip

  • Works with contact or contactless readers

  • Can operate in offline mode with cached permissions

  • Requires on site printing or issuance and a pickup process

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Throughput and user experience

  • Mobile
    Tap speeds are comparable to cards with NFC. BLE allows a slightly longer read range which is useful at turnstiles, driver entrances, and interior gates where gloved hands make tapping awkward.

  • Cards
    Muscle memory is strong. Cards are fast at doors and turnstiles. In cold weather zones, cards can be easier for gloved workers who keep phones stowed.

Tip: In high traffic shifts, prioritize readers that support both NFC mobile and smart cards. This avoids slowdowns during the transition.

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Security posture and risk

  • Mobile strengths
    Multi factor options, device biometrics, and geo or time fencing. Instant kill for lost devices. Harder to share credentials since the phone is personal.

  • Mobile watchouts
    Needs a baseline mobile device policy. Shared or unmanaged devices can be a risk if not paired with good app protections.

  • Card strengths
    Mature cryptography, simple to audit, works well in high EMI areas where phones struggle.

  • Card watchouts
    Cards get shared or loaned. Lost cards are not always reported quickly. Revocation is slower if badge office hours are limited.

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Provisioning, turnover, and contractors

  • Mobile is ideal for rotating labor, third party drivers, and short term projects. Pre enroll, send a QR or email link, and the credential activates on first launch.

  • Cards are reliable for long term staff and union roles that prefer physical IDs. Expect more reprints during peak turnover.

Hybrid example:

  • Mobile for vendors, short term workers, and supervisors who travel between sites

  • Cards for full time production staff and roles that require visible photo ID

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Offline and fail safe operation

  • Mobile
    Most modern platforms cache permissions on the phone or at the reader, which supports brief network outages. Verify this in the spec.

  • Cards
    Often stronger in extended offline scenarios. If your site has frequent network interruptions, keep card support at critical portals.

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Privacy and acceptance

  • Mobile
    Be clear about what the app collects. Good platforms do not harvest personal content. Communicate that only credential events are logged.

  • Cards
    Familiar and low friction for privacy sensitive teams.

Rollout success depends on change management. Publish a one page privacy summary and a simple self service guide for both options.

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Cost and lifecycle

  • Mobile cost drivers
    Credential licenses, reader upgrades for NFC or BLE, support for unmanaged devices. Savings arrive through fewer reprints and faster onboarding.

  • Card cost drivers
    Printers, supplies, spares, badge office labor, and time lost to reissuance. Cards are inexpensive per unit but add up at high turnover sites.

Run a 12 month model that includes onboarding time, reprint rates, and after hours calls. Mobile often wins for contractor heavy depots. Cards can be more economical for stable headcount.

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Integration with transportation facility security

Whichever credential you choose, insist on tight integration with your VMS, alarms, LPR, and emergency communication system.

  • Bookmark video to the exact badge or mobile event

  • Trigger alerts on tailgating, forced doors, or rapid re entries

  • Tie mass notification to lockdown rules by zone and shift

  • For fleet yards, pair gate reads with LPR and telematics so vehicles and people are reconciled in the same log

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Pilot plan you can run in 30 days

  1. Select two doors, one turnstile, and one yard gate

  2. Enable readers for both NFC mobile and smart card

  3. Enroll one shift on mobile, one shift on cards, and vendors on mobile temporary passes

  4. Measure tap success, average door time, exceptions, and help desk tickets

  5. Survey users, adjust training, and confirm privacy messaging

  6. Present results with a 12 month cost and uptime model

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KPIs to watch after launch

  • First tap success rate by reader and by credential type

  • Average door time and queue length at shift changes

  • Exceptions per 1,000 entries tailgating, denied, forced

  • Time to provision and time to revoke

  • Lost credential rate and after hours calls

  • Audit completeness percentage of events with linked video

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The SSP recommendation

For most 24 by 7 depots and transit facilities, a hybrid model delivers the best mix of speed, security, and acceptance. Use mobile credentials for supervisors, contractors, vendors, and multi site users. Keep smart cards for stable roles, privacy sensitive teams, and portals that must stay reliable during extended outages. Wrap both in role based access, zone schedules, and integrated video so investigations are fast and clean.

Discover how SSP keeps transportation systems secure and operational.
Contact us for a quick assessment of your credential mix and a reader upgrade plan that fits your budget and timeline.