What Is This?

Transit Safety Ambassadors are unarmed, uniformed professionals deployed throughout public transportation systems — on trains, buses, light rail lines, and at stations — to provide immediate response to safety concerns, medical emergencies, and quality-of-life situations that do not require law enforcement. They are not security guards, not transit police, and not social workers in the conventional sense.

The Los Angeles Times editorial board described the scope this way: “the vast majority of safety concerns cited by riders are about comfort and cleanliness,” specifically “homeless people sleeping on the trains and buses” and “people experiencing mental health crises.” [1]

Los Angeles Metro described what it was building in these terms: a system where ambassadors “act as the front line, managing the lion’s share of incidents in transit” and “reserve law enforcement and armed responses to those incidents that truly warrant it.” [2] Angela Averiett, who served as Bay Area Rapid Transit’s (BART) Deputy Chief overseeing the public transportation ambassador program before becoming Police Chief of San Leandro, stated: “Just them being in a train may stop someone from smoking crack or from defecating in a train car. I think it really makes people kind of think twice before they do something that’s illegal or harmful to themselves or others.” [5]

The Los Angeles Times editorial board stated: “Riders deserve safer bus and rail service. And Metro is doomed without it.” [6]

What Transit Safety Ambassadors Actually Do

A transit ambassador on a typical shift may:

Visible deterrent patrol. Walk trains, platforms, and station concourses in distinctive, brightly colored uniforms. Los Angeles uses lime green jackets. [3] Olympia, Washington uses bright blue. [10]

Medical emergency response. Administer naloxone for opioid overdoses and perform CPR for cardiac events. Los Angeles Transit Ambassador David Moreland, a Vietnam War veteran who served as a military medic, reported personally resuscitating five people — three through Narcan administration and two through CPR. [3] Across the LA Metro program, ambassadors saved 334 lives through emergency medical intervention as of July 2025, according to Metro’s official board records. [3]

Crisis de-escalation and mental health response. BART’s Crisis Intervention Specialists are trained in “conflict resolution and de-escalation techniques for people suffering from mental health, homelessness and substance-abuse issues.” [7] The Greater Cleveland Regional Transit Authority specifically recruited “crisis intervention specialists who are trained and have expertise in using conflict resolution skills to help people experiencing mental health crises.” [8]

Service connection and outreach. BART specialists escort individuals to resources that are “30, 40 minutes away” when needed. [7] BART Deputy Chief of Police Ja’Son Scott described the sustained engagement model: “It may be that on the first contact with a crisis intervention specialist somebody is ready to seek help. But sometimes it might be the 20th contact.” [7]

Rider assistance and wayfinding. Help passengers navigate the system, assist riders with wheelchairs and mobility challenges, walk night-shift workers to their cars, and provide directions. [1, 10]

Quality-of-life intervention. Address smoking, noise, blocking of aisles and doors, and other violations through voluntary compliance rather than citations. [2, 10]

Operator support on buses. Olympia, Washington deploys ambassadors directly on bus routes to support operators, riding alongside drivers on problem routes, helping passengers with transfers, and de-escalating passenger conflicts. [10]

What Transit Safety Ambassadors Are Not

The role is precisely defined by what it excludes.

Transit Safety Ambassadors are not transit police. They have no arrest authority, no weapons, and no enforcement powers. BART Deputy Chief of Police Ja’Son Scott explained: “We didn’t have all the tools as police officers to deal with all the issues that you see in BART, and it’s not always necessary for a police officer” to respond. [14]

They are not fare enforcement officers. Minneapolis’s Transit Rider Investment Program includes fare checking as one duty, but most programs do not. [12]

They are not social workers or homeless outreach teams, though their functions overlap. Transit ambassadors carry Narcan and are trained in CPR. [3, 7]

How Transit Safety Ambassadors Fit in the Larger Public Safety Landscape

Transit Safety Ambassadors are a specialized variant of the broader safety ambassador model, adapted specifically for public transportation.

The organizational home is typically the transit agency. [2, 11]

The Illinois state legislature recognized this model in 2025, passing legislation that creates a transit ambassador program across the Chicago metropolitan region’s transit system, deploying “unarmed staff at transit stations and on vehicles across the system” under the newly created Northern Illinois Transit Authority (NITA), with implementation targeted for 2027. The mandate covers passenger safety, education and assistance, connections to “social, medical, and other services,” liaison with law enforcement for serious crimes, and system navigation. [11]

The Bottom Line

Los Angeles Supervisor Holly Mitchell stated: “Every one of my constituents has a different perception of what it takes for them to feel safe in a public space. We thought that by having an extra set of eyes in the system, unarmed and well trained, we can improve people’s perceptions of public safety without the unnecessary risks of over policing or enabling situations to escalate to violence.” [9]