Message from the CEO

For many, summer is a great time of the year because it means family time, vacations and celebrations. However, we often need to be reminded to celebrate the “small things,” which brings me to my CEO inspiration for this season:

“Great things are not done by impulse, but by a series of small things brought together.” Vincent Van Gogh.

Here at Long Beach Transit (LBT), we make everyday life better with collaboration and new ideas, big and small, that result in continuous improvement. This summer, I encourage you to reflect on the efforts you put forward. Whether they enhance safety, enhance the customer experience, or build engagement within your team, the things you do help LBT customers.

Thank you for the “small things” you do daily to make LBT a public transportation leader!

Community Events

Ride With Pride

Movies on the Beach

Notable Events

Other notable events the Community Relations team went to in recent months include Touch-A-Truck, where folks can take a look at one of our buses up close. The team also represented LBT at Getty 25 Celebrates Long Beach, an arts festival where the Customer Care team also helped, in addition to the Summer Arts Kickoff and Resource Fair at MOLAA. 

Transit Ambassador Program

LBT’s Transit Ambassadors are more than your average security guards.

For nearly 5 years, the Transit Ambassador program has supported LBT’s strategic priority of Improving Safety and Service Quality for both employees and customers. Transit Ambassadors not only help with enforcing LBT’s policies, but assist customers with directions, general transit questions and other customer service matters.

Billy Anderson, System Security Manager, who joined LBT in November 2021, oversees the program and the team of eight Transit Ambassadors. Each day, there are four Transit Ambassadors who work the day shift in pairs, then the other four work the swing shift in pairs. The Transit Ambassadors ride buses across LBT’s service area, assisting customers and checking bus stops to ensure they are safe and clean.

“They really take pride in the job that they do, because a good core of the ambassadors live in Long Beach as well,” Billy said. “It’s more than just a job to them, they’re working in the community in which they live in. They take a sense of ownership to it.”

Billy focuses on placing Transit Ambassadors where there are disturbance and crime trends, although for each eight-hour shift they are required to ride on at least ten buses per day on nine routes, in addition to checking at least 20 bus stops. At the close of Fiscal Year 2022, Transit Ambassadors assisted more than 9,000 customers and provided a security presence on 6,000-plus LBT buses.

On average, Transit Ambassadors can hand out up to 100 face masks per day to customers and have contact with unhoused individuals 20 times per week, including referring social resources to those individuals.

While Transit Ambassadors are armed with less-than-lethal weapons, pepper spray and handcuffs, it is rare for their duties to become physical. The goal of the team is to have positive interactions with customers and de-escalate tense situations. When things do get tense, LBPD is called in.

Customers and operators often say they feel safer when a Transit Ambassador is on board.