Encourage energy-efficient and renewable transportation choices.

Land use and infrastructure set the context, but in the end, transportation fuel use is driven by individual choices. Portland has proven strategies that can be expanded to promote a variety of transportation options.  It also needs to develop new strategies to promote both energy-efficient vehicles and energy-efficient transportation modes.  

Alternative fuels cannot replace the amount of transportation fuels used today, but they can play an important role in decreasing Portland’s vulnerability to energy markets. The City should determine how to encourage production and use of alternative fuels that give a good return on energy used.

Action items:

a)  Encourage “paid parking environments” wherever possible, since there is a direct connection between free parking and automobile dependency. Parking costs and supply are the most effective tools for encouraging transportation options. The City should extend metering for curbside parking to congested retail commercial districts throughout the city. Metering will reduce cruising for a parking space because it reduces the number of cars and promotes turnover of parking spaces. The City should earmark a portion of parking revenues for pedestrian, bicycle and transit accessibility improvements, and for other improvements to the vitality of the commercial districts.  

b)  Expand programs and policies that promote specific efficient transportation options including walking, bicycling, transit use, car- and vanpooling, car-sharing and flexible work hours.

c)   Expand individualized marketing programs which use personal contacts to identify and support the transportation options people want to use. These programs have consistently reduced single occupancy vehicle trips by 8 to 10 percent in the four Portland neighborhoods in which they have been implemented. Still, they have reached only 20 to 25 percent of residents and few businesses, and then only for one year.

d)  Encourage businesses to take advantage of ride-sharing and car-sharing.

e)  Work with Oregon Department of Transportation and other responsible agencies to provide incentives and remove barriers to the purchase and use of hybrid vehicles, electric vehicles, small vehicles and alternative vehicles that currently are restricted in use.

f)   Investigate incentives to reduce single occupancy trips or congestion:

  • Taxes based on vehicle miles traveled in single-occupancy vehicles
  • Road user fees based on transponder technology
  • High occupancy vehicle lanes

g)    Text Box: Table 2. City of Portland transportation fuel use by agency, FY 05-06 (gallons) Bureau Diesel Gasoline Development Services - 41,634 Environmental Services 15,465 40,582 Fire 97,306 53,192 General Services Printing & Distribution - 4,666 Communication - 293 Facilities - 4,458 Fleet 7,482 50,209 Government Relations - 467 Parks & Recreation 45,910 104,793 Police 14,256 643,183 Transportation Traffic Management 36,553 Maintenance 365,306 100,409 Water 96,199 111,571 Total 641,924 1,192,010 Encourage production and  distribution of biofuels. Identify strategies, incentives and taxes to promote existing and new technologies.

  • Attract alternative fuel manufacturers and distributors.
  • Foster neighborhood co-op fueling stations.
  • Pair Oregon farmers making biofuels with neighborhoods that purchase fuel from their own co-ops.

h)    Adopt policies and programs to prioritize biodiesel (and diesel) supplies for heavy uses including freight, buses, and heavy equipment. These require the concentrated power that diesel and biodiesel provide. More alternative fuel options are available for personal transportation than for heavy-duty uses.

i)      Use the most fuel-efficient flex-fuel vehicles available for the City fleet (see Table 2 for recent fuel usage by bureau).