ICYMI: Congresswoman Simon Advocates for Accessible Public Transportation and Stable Federal Transit Funding
Washington, D.C. – In case you missed it, Congresswoman Lateefah Simon (D-CA-12) spoke at the House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee’s Member Day Hearing today. Congresswoman Simon spoke about her commitment to accessible public transportation systems and the need to stabilize transit funding at every level.
Congresswoman Simon is the first congenitally blind person to serve in Congress, and she has been a long-time advocate for transit accessibility. She previously served on the Bay Area Rapid Transit (BART) Board of Directors as a Member and later President of the Board from 2016 to 2024. As BART Board President, Congresswoman Simon championed the creation of the first-in-the-nation and nationally recognized unarmed Transit Ambassador program, which deploys trained, uniformed personnel to enhance public safety alongside existing law enforcement officers. The Transit Ambassador program is a cost-effective system to protect train operators, deter violence, build public confidence and public safety on transit systems–without over-policing. Congresswoman Simon plans to continue this work in Congress and introduce legislation to expand Transit Ambassador programs nationwide.
You can watch Congresswoman Simon’s full remarks HERE and read an excerpt of her remarks below:
“I'm legally blind and as a blind person and a transit-dependent person, I have relied on public transportation for all of my life. In fact, as a young mom, a teen mom, going to college, and taking my baby to daycare–I had to make decisions on where I lived, what time the bus or the train came to get to work, to turn in assignments, to be able to make a way out of no way for my family….
“Public transit for me was not just a convenience. It was a lifeline, an opportunity, stability, and survival. The deep personal connection that I've had as a transit dependent person, led me to run for office and to win an office to be on the Board of Directors of Bay Area Rapid Transit…I helped lead BART during a very difficult time during COVID…BART continued to run trains for nurses and janitors and grocery clerks–the essential workers who kept our communities going.
“And like so many other public transportation agencies in this country, we did it during that crucial period because of the federal partnership…But as emergency funds sunset in 2026, systems across the country face, and you all know this, a fiscal cliff. The situation is not just urgent. It is, in fact, existential…This isn't about poor financial management. In fact, it’s about decades–it's a national issue–decades of transit disinvestment, underinvestment, leaving us far behind our global partners, our global peers, our adversaries and building more reliant public transportation systems…
“BART and other transit agencies around the country are facing severe service cuts. Bay Area Rapid Transit [faces up to] 80% [in service cuts]. This means no weekend service, this means layoffs… Some of us don't have car keys. We rely, our lifeblood, on being able to access reliable and safe public transportation. The cuts now wouldn't just harm transit systems. They disproportionately would harm low-income folks, vulnerable folks, transit dependent folks, and of course, our elders, seniors and people with disability. Slashing transit services now means slashing and slamming the door on these communities…
“In California, legislation has been introduced to give voters the opportunity to continue to support public transportation in its dire phase, but the states can’t do it alone…I’ll be outside working with you all as we move towards a transit equitable nation.”
Congresswoman Simon recently joined with BART to announce a 17% decline in overall crime on BART in 2024 and tour new rider safety features at the 19th Street and Fruitvale stations in Oakland. Congresswoman Simon also toured Casa Sueños, transit-oriented development near the BART Fruitvale Station that is mixed-use and provides affordable family housing, to advocate for more transit-oriented development.
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