Karen J. Alexander – Managing Director, NJTIP @ Rutgers Public transit and mobility expert with 30+ years of experience planning and implementing human service, public transit, and aging in place programs. Karen started her career helping launch Access-A-Ride, New York City’s first ADA Paratransit program. She served as an Assistant General Manager for NYC Transit’s Department of Buses, and subsequently led the Accessibility Group at NJ TRANSIT, where she initiated NJ TRANSIT’s first interdepartmental accessibility efforts. In 2013,she joined the Voorhees Transportation Center (VTC) at Rutgers University to become the Managing Director of the New Jersey Travel Independence Program at Rutgers University (NJTIP @ Rutgers). NJTIP provides innovative travel instruction services to help people with disabilities, older adults, and transportation-disadvantaged populations achieve independence and self-sufficiency as users of public transit. She is a course developer and instructor for the National Transit Institute: Understanding the ADA, Advancing Mobility Management, and Grow Your Ridership by Welcoming Older Adults.
While at VTC, she has been a Project Manager or Principal Investigator for the following efforts:
- TCRP Project J-11/Task 41 Pathways to Effective, Inclusive, and Equitable Virtual Public Engagement for Public Transit (underway);
- Forward Together, the Middlesex County Coordinated Public Transit Human Services Transportation Plan update, July 2022;
- Understanding the Transportation Mobility Needs for An Aging New Jersey Population, (FHWA-NJ-2021-005), June 2021
- Go Farther – Coordinated Human Services Transportation Plan Update for the North Jersey Transportation Planning Authority, July 2017.
Karen has a BA in Communications from UCLA and a Master of Public Administration degree from Columbia University and serves on the State Rehabilitation Council for New Jersey.