Light rail fare ambassadors

Fare ambassadors were standing outside UW station today making every person show them their fare before going down the stairs or escalators. Why in the world would we not just put in turnstiles at the below grade stations or at least through the most busy stations?? Why have employees doing something a literal gate is designed to do?

I understand why certain stations along the lines don’t have gates or turnstiles for safety reasons, but it seems wild that we are paying people to check fares outside of stations instead of using that funding for something else.

Ok end rant.