2023 40 Under 40: Julian Bautista Rojas

One word to describe yourself: Charismatic

Alma Mater: Undergraduate: Pontificia Universidad Javeriana (Bogotá, Colombia), Graduate: CUNY – City College of New York

Fast fact about yourself: I am a licensed civil engineer in Colombia.

What’s your best experience on transit and what made it memorable?: My parents met in a bus my dad was driving; can’t beat that!

Julian Bautista Rojas is a principal at Nelson\Nygaard Consulting Associates and is responsible for the financial and operational performance of the Austin office, as well as overall morale, staff development and hiring of the group. This includes mentoring and training staff and growing Nelson\Nygaard’s presence in Texas and throughout the midwest and south.

Supporting his predecessor from the time of his hiring, he became an essential part in the mission to grow a four-person office. After about a year-and-a-half working at Nelson\Nygaard, Bautista Rojas now leads a 16-person office of transportation planning professionals.

He has been described by his peers as a “fabulous mentor for young transit practitioners” and represents the American dream. Under Bautista Rojas's leadership, the Austin office is supported in developing mobility solutions that support equitable, accessible, healthy, sustainable and thriving communities for public and private clients.

Before becoming a consultant in Austin, Bautista Rojas worked in the public sector in New York City. After immigrating and finishing grad school in the U.S., Bautista Rojas invested more than 10 years in the operations planning department at MTA Bus and New York City Transit. In this position, he managed major initiatives like the Queens Bus Network Redesign and the planning and implementation of the first two MTA Bus Company’s bus rapid transit lines. In turn, these initiatives provided faster, more reliable service to more than 30,000 customers a day, including the LaGuardia Link Q70 SBS, which is now in the process of being upgraded to become an even more important transit connection to the LaGuardia Airport.

Bautista Rojas’s efforts towards the public sector, particularly transit agencies, are apparent even past Nelson\Nygaard’s doors. He currently works with public agencies all over the U.S. in support of efforts ranging from updating Service Standards and Guidelines and other Project Connect work for CapMetro in Austin, to managing the Tren Urbano Extension Alternatives Analysis Study for the Puerto Rico Integrated Transit Authority in San Juan, Puerto Rico.

Outside of the office, Bautista Rojas serves on the board of the Austin Chapter of Young Professionals in Transportation, where he is committed to fostering a space for transportation professionals in Austin to collaborate and network while having fun. He also sits on the Leadership Academy and the Diversity, Equity and Inclusion Committees of Latinos in Transit (LIT), where he supports LIT’s mission of advocating equity, diversity and inclusion to enable the development and advancement of its members to executive positions, as well as other positions of influence in the mobility industry.

 Is there a specific experience that led you to where you are today?

Two things – my family and my upbringing in my native Bogotá (Colombia). And when I say my family, I don’t mean it in a cliché way (though I do owe them everything, and they continue to be there for me along the way). But transportation is sort of a family business. My grandparents on both sides owned buses or trucks at some point in life. As a matter of fact, my parents met in the bus my dad was driving for his parents as his side gig. Both of my grandfathers retired as professional drivers (truck and bus). My parent’s current business is transportation related and my dad still drives trucks as needed. Today, some of my uncles make their living driving buses, trucks or even ambulances. As a result, I was always in it. I have always been surrounded by buses and trucks; they were part of my childhood and are still part of my adulthood. During my school breaks I’d join my parents or grandparents on trips throughout Colombia or maybe join an uncle during his workday in his dump truck; or, countless times, I rode next to my dad while he was working driving a truck or a bus; it would always be an adventure. But it wasn’t always as romantic as it sounds. As a business, it was challenging. There were long days on the road, lost days at the mechanic’s shop because of expensive repairs, crashes, weeks would go by without seeing my dad while he was on the road and all sorts of no fun. This was my window into the ecosystem of transportation services and all its ups and downs.

Pair that with growing up in a thriving metropolis like Bogotá where I got to enjoy the freedom of a walkable and transit rich place. Riding the bus with my mom to go places, using the transit system since my teenage years to move throughout the city, being able to travel at odd hours of the day without fear of having to wait too long or missing the “last bus,”this helped me realize the opportunities that one can access when one has the possibility to travel easily. It was my window into understanding the critical role that a quality transit system can play in the everyday life of a person.

What do you enjoy most about your job?

Transportation is part of everyone’s lives, almost every day. I work to ensure access to opportunity for people in hope of making their lives easier. I’m never going to forget how excited people were because they were cutting 15 minutes out of their commute thanks to a new bus route to the airport that I worked on implementing. I enjoy planning for better transit systems, pushing the envelope for frequent and prioritized transit service. I truly believe that governments have the duty to provide decent transit services to open opportunities to people and offer them a chance at thriving. So, I guess I love the public service aspect of my job, I really love that through transit we can provide benefits that improve people's quality of life, whether by allowing them to make it home faster or going to school at night.

What’s the most challenging part of your job?

As with anything that touches and affects multiple individuals, it is always challenging to reach consensus and a common ground. It is frustrating that, sometimes, a single loudest voice in a room is heard over folks who don’t always have the chance to participate, which leads to prioritizing the well-being of individuals over the collective well-being. But we have to overcome that frustration and fight these negative traits of the job, because ultimately what matters is being able to deliver positive outcomes for everyone.

Accomplishment you’re most proud of and why?

I’m proud of the work I did to improve transit service in Queens. Whether my role on the Bus Network Redesign or the implementation of the LaGuardia Link or the Q52/Q53 SBS.

In my current role at Nelson\Nygaard, I am proud of the team my predecessor and I built. It was no easy feat to grow into a full-service, 16 people-strong office (I was hire No. 6). Not mentioning their unique skills, everyone is extremely invested in sustainable transportation for a bright future. They all inspire me to stay true to the reasons why I chose my career.