Chances are, no matter where you may be in North America, there's a small piece of Abbotsford whizzing by on a bus, train or an a first responders vehicle.
Gatekeeper Systems Inc., based out of Wheel Avenue in the Peardonville area for decades, has emerged as a top company in video and data solutions for public transportation.
The publicly traded company made national headlines last month after the Toronto Transit Commission awarded Gatekeeper its automated streetcar enforcement system (ASES) pilot contract.
ASES is a video-based evidence capture and automated ticketing solution for enforcement of motorists that fail to stop for streetcars when the passenger doors are open. Gatekeeper will deploy its AI-assisted video analytics for incident detection, licence plate capture, and automated ticket processing. The ASES pilot contract is for initial deployment on four streetcars and is valued at approximately $460,000.
The TTC operates streetcar routes in mixed-traffic conditions and certain stops require passengers to cross traffic lanes to board streetcars. Motorists are required by law to stop behind a streetcar once its doors are open and regulations now allow the use of video to monitor and automatically enforce traffic violations against streetcars.
鈥淪afety is our top concern, and every day, we hear about dozens of instances of cars passing open streetcar doors in mixed traffic with no regard for the safety of our customers,鈥� said TTC CEO Greg Percy. 鈥淲e look forward to working with Gatekeeper Systems to develop a new, industry-leading technological solution to address that.鈥�
The TTC provides public transit services to approximately 1.7 million daily commuters in Toronto and from surrounding municipalities.
But it's not just Toronto that is trusting and investing in Gatekeeper, one of the company's most significant partners is the Southeastern Pennsylvania Transportation Authority (SEPTA). SEPTA is one of the largest transit systems in the United States, serving five counties in the greater Philadelphia area and connecting to transit systems in Delaware and New Jersey. It's ranked the sixth-largest U.S. rapid transit system in the nation by ridership and the fifth-largest overall transit system in the nation.
Gatekeeper announces $3.5M SEPTA video services contract extension
鈥� Gatekeeper Systems (@GatekeeperGSI)
Gatekeeper has provided video system maintenance services for SEPTA since October 2019. It was announced on March 5 that Gatekeeper has received a video services contract extension for $2,392,000 USD (approximately CDN$3.5 million) to provide continued maintenance and repair of the on-board vehicle video systems. Last April saw SEPTA announce a contract to equip five transit locomotives with image and audio recording devices, including Crash Hardened Memory Modules (CHMMs).
Gatekeeper CEO Douglas Dyment said SEPTA is one of his company's largest customers and the partnership works for both sides. He added that the work with SEPTA has helped other companies notice Gatekeeper and increase the desire for others to work with them.
"We manage all of video on all their buses and trains," he said. "We do the break fixes. And what typically happens is if you can crack into some of these agencies with this type of program and you can start to build credibility and that can lead to other projects within that agency or other agencies."
Dyment explained that he acquired the asset of another company for $300,000 several years back and that helped get that initial contract with SEPTA. From there the trust grew and more deals for other services were completed.
"They loved our technology and that $300,000 acquisition has now turned into over $40 million in revenue for us," he said. "It's growth and we've been growing nicely over the years."
Through SEPTA and other deals with companies all across the continent, Gatekeeper's revenue continues to climb. They reported $37.8 million in revenue for 2024 鈥� which was a growth of 36 per cent year-over-year. The first quarter of 2025 has reported revenue of $7.3 million. Compare that to the 2018 fiscal year, which saw reported revenue of $7.8 million.
Deals with school districts all across North America, including the Abbotsford School District, are also big difference makers to the company's bottom line. Gatekeeper equips school buses with safety cameras and also manages data for those districts.
"We do business in every state and province," Dyment said. "And we've got over 3,500 customers, most of which are in the K-12 market. We've got a system called the student protector, that protects kids when the school bus comes to a stop and the stop arm is engaged."
Dyment explained that any driver not stopping commits a stop arm violation and there are estimated to be over 45 million of those per year in the USA. The average ticket cost for that violation is $200, so by using that system cities or school districts can enforce the law, keep children safe and increase revenue. It's a similar system that will be in place for transit companies like the TTC.
Video technology has been a lifelong passion for Dyment, who said he initially got involved in that field when he created and developed video tech that was purchased by Surrey-based Silent Witness in 1992. Silent Witness was then later sold to international company Honeywell for $84 million in 2003.
Following that sale he created his own digital company that focused on both the K-12 market, but at the same time he was working on underwater applications for the technology. He launched a brand called ViperFish, which involved recording data from scientific applications underwater, at an ocean trade show in 2001 when he was approached by the United States Air Force.
"They asked if we could take our platform and make it work at 10,000 feet unpressurized," he recalled. "So we went to work and did the design and the next thing you know we were being used on the [Lockheed Martin] AC-130 gunship, so that is all part of our pedigree."
Dyment eventually shifted focus from the military to protecting children in and around school buses and now the transit side of things. Gatekeeper has expanded to have an office in Bristol, Pa., but have been based out of Abbotsford since the year 2000. They employ around 100 people between the two offices.
He said the decision to take the company public was to gain access to additional capital and help the company grow. The last public raise was in 2017. He said he initially wasn't interested in growing into an overly large company and joked that he was more interested in having more of a work-life balance and focusing more on his golf game 鈥� but that changed.
"We've done a good job operating and plowing cash back into the company," he said. "We don't have debt and have about $17 million working capital and are in a strong cash position. So we're set up in a good situation to grow."
Dyment said he aims to continue to grow the company 20 per cent annually and they are ahead of schedule for 2025. He said the Canadian market is one that offers opportunities for growth. B.C and Alberta have picked up in the past few years and ambulances in Manitoba have also recently adopted the technology. Gatekeeper also announced on March 13 that they've acquired two more contracts for school buses in Nova Scotia.
Local groups that work with Gatekeeper include: Abbotsford School District, ,Chilliwack School District 鈥� SD 33, Langley School District, Mount Cheam Christian School, Unity Christian School, Hope/Agassiz School District, Seabird Island Band, Chehalis Schools, St. Helen Elementary, Country Lumber and Lynch Bus (contractor).
For more information on the company, visit
Gatekeeper announces school bus video contracts in Nova Scotia
鈥� Gatekeeper Systems (@GatekeeperGSI)
