Transit Ambassadors have both a customer service and law enforcement function, as noted in SacRT: Transit Ambassadors. This dual function raises concerns and results in confusion for riders and transit advocates. Should customer service be emphasized, or law enforcement? Recently, the law enforcement role has been emphasized almost to the exclusion of the customer service role, through the zero-tolerance policy, but that may be modified or reversed.

Depending on what should be emphasized, or if the dual roles are split, the question is where Transit Ambassadors should be placed in the organizational hierarchy. At this time, they are placed within Police Services, within the Security, Safety and Customer Satisfaction function, as shown in the organizational chart below. If the law enforcement role remains as the primary one, then this may be an appropriate place. However, if customer service becomes the prominent role, then they should NOT be placed in Police Services. They should be moved out of Security, Safety, along with Customer Satisfaction, which move I recommended in SacRT: move Customer Satisfaction.

I believe that the customer service role of Transit Ambassadors should be the primary role. This is not to say TAs would not retain the citation ability for fare evasion and other issues, rather that would be a less important part of their role, and customer service become central.