Got questions for BART board president? We’ve got answers

BART Board President Lateefah Simon speaks during a press conference about the BART ambassadors on Monday, February 10, 2020 in Oakland, Calif.

Lateefah Simon, BART’s board president, rides BART during her morning commute.

Lateefah Simon, BART's new board president and a single mom who is legally blind, speaks to a BART employee at the Richmond BART station during her morning commute on January 16, 2020 in Richmond, Calif.

BART board President Lateefah Simon (center left) talks about the new BART ambassador program at a news conference as director Bevan Dufty waits to speak.

BART board President Lateefah Simon at the Richmond BART station during her morning commute.

Lateefah Simon, BART's new board president and a single mom who is legally blind, taking the escalator to the train platform at the Richmond BART station during her morning commute on January 16, 2020 in Richmond, Calif.

BART board President Lateefah Simon gets her daughter Lelah ready for a Lyft ride to school in Richmond.

BART bard President Lateefah Simon and her daughter Lelah take a Lyft to Lelah’s school in Richmond.

BART board President Lateefah Simon finishes putting on her makeup in a Lyft ride on her way to her daughter Lelah’s school in Richmond.

BART riders have many, many questions about the beleaguered public transit system. Fortunately, Lateefah Simon, the relatively newly selected president of the BART Board of Directors, has some answers.

She’d better. Not only is she tasked with guiding the love-it-or-hate-it system into a brighter future, but she also depends on it every day. The 43-year-old single mother is legally blind and cannot drive. She depends on BART to get from her home in Richmond, the end of the line in western Contra Costa County, to just about anywhere she needs to be.

“It was slow today,” she said with a sigh after disembarking at Powell Street Station to record a San Francisco City Insider podcast episode at the Chronicle building at Fifth and Mission streets. Read More