Increased Staffing Levels and Training for Transit Ambassadors

Updated on August 17, 2023

A group of people wearing red uniform shirts sit in a semi-circle facing a presentation

As part of the MBTA’s efforts to expand the number of personnel available to assist riders on the system, we are increasing staffing levels of the Transit Ambassadors program to meet our newly developed standards.

What This Means for Riders

More support navigating throughout subway stations
Transit ambassadors who are better prepared to assist riders with disabilities

Updated Standards

Increased Staffing

System-Wide Accessibility collaborated with the Customer Experience department, Operations, and Contract Services to create an updated standard for staffing levels at T stations in 2021.

Station posts were prioritized based on a variety of factors, including ridership, station complexity, and presence of elevators. Then we grouped the station posts into Tiers I, II, and III.

The new standard established from this evaluation represents a meaningful increase in coverage compared to past levels of station staffing, with personnel coverage at Tier I and II locations seven days a week from 6 AM to midnight and partial coverage at Tier III locations. The program currently employs approximately 300 ambassadors.

Accessibility Training

In addition to staff expansion, a full revision of the accessibility training module for Transit Ambassadors was completed and incorporated into the new-hire training program in March 2023.

All transit ambassadors have completed this new training as of July 2023.

Upcoming Changes

Block by Block operates the Transit Ambassador program. The MBTA’s new contract with Mydatt Services, Inc. (the owner of Block by Block) was approved in September 2022. In addition to ensuring the continued operation of the Transit Ambassadors program, this contract requires Ambassador staffing levels to meet or exceed the MBTA’s newly developed staffing standard.

Block by Block is expected to increase coverage in order to meet the standard by August 2023.