Freight and Fuel

 

1.     Charge taxes based on vehicle miles traveled.

2.     Since each City resident gets a benefit from public rights-of-way (fire trucks, delivery vans, garbage trucks provide services to everyone), charge each resident a City of Portland transportation user fee for system maintenance and improvement.

3.     Restrict types of vehicles allowed on roadways to specific times of day to reduce overall congestion.

4.     Have dedicated freight lanes on roads and highways.

5.     Create central passenger vehicle parking areas and move vehicles off of residential streets.

6.     Create toll lanes that charge single-occupancy vehicles more or charge a toll to enter Portland in a single-occupancy vehicle.

7.     Tax higher-weight passenger vehicles more than lower-weight ones.

8.     Have truck delivery-only streets within the City.

9.     Create short-sea shipping lines along the West Coast to move products between Mexico and Canada by water not by truck.

10.  Ban package delivery by truck to individual addresses.  Create distribution centers within urban areas where individuals can come and pick up their packages.

11.  Build new rail transfer stations that are closer to the product.

12.  Electrify the rail system to save on diesel fuel usage.

13.  Build fuel refineries.

14.  Attract alternative fuel manufacturers and distributors.

 

15.  Tax alternative fuels the same as other fuels to help pay for transportation system maintenance.

16.  Develop citizen-owned co-op fuels.

17.  Take money earmarked for airport expansion and put it into other transportation programs like commuter rail, bridge maintenance, etc.

18.  Continue to protect industrial and manufacturing land to allow for economic diversification if global economy falters.

Public Transportation – Potential Recommendations

19.  Look for the most cost-effective ways to fully utilize the capacity of existing alternative modes of transportation.  This is the short-term solution and is a marketing challenge.

20.  Charge taxes based on vehicle miles traveled in a single-occupancy vehicle.

21.  Since each City user gets a benefit from public rights-of-way and all modes can use streets, charge each resident and city-based employer/employee a City of Portland transportation user fee for system maintenance and improvement.

22.  Have dedicated HOV lanes and bike lanes on roads and highways.  Seattle currently has a more extensive HOV network and more company financial incentives.

23.  At least double the on-street and garage parking fees in the City Center and other major shopping/employment areas like Lloyd Center, Gateway.  This may push drivers into parking in residential areas.  May also need to implement a residential zone parking permit system similar to Chicago’s.

24. Develop viable intra-urban rail systems now.  Could effectively connect Portland to Astoria, McMinnville, the Valley, perhaps even Bend, The Dalles and Pendleton.

25.  Take money earmarked for airport expansion and put it into other transportation programs like commuter rail, bike lanes, sidewalks, etc.

26.  Expand vanpools and carpools to special destinations like Ikea, casinos, coast resorts, ski areas, State Fair, etc.  NYC/NJ does this.

27.  Charge car-sharing companies a nominal on-street parking fee or no fee at all.

28.  Make walking seem like a recognizable mode of transportation.  This is a marketing challenge.

29.  Continue to expand the light rail, streetcar, and bus systems now while there is funding still available.

30.  Provide incentives for employers to change work patterns – compressed work weeks, job sharing, telecommuting, proximate commuting (transfer people to the branch office closest to their house).

31.  Continue to expand the bike lane system, putting bike lanes on the most traveled routes for commuters, including large streets like Sandy Blvd and Foster.  More bikes on even these high traffic routes makes for a better overall environment.

32.  Continue to fund and implement the already existing alternative transportation programs and incentives, and the existing land use policies to encourage the continued reduction of personal trips-per-day.

33.  Create more flexible multi-use zoning designations that will allow for the creation of employment centers around the City.  Find ways to accommodate manufacturing, office, light industrial, service, and residential next to each other.

Potential Solutions to Peak Oil Impacts

34.  Educate other cities within the State to the potential impacts of peak oil and help them develop into sustainable, well-planned communities to lessen the pressure on Portland to be the main economic driver and population growth supporter in the state.

35.  Create a design-advisory team to help push high-quality building design as density increases.

36.  Continue to acquire and retain large land parcels to be developed into public areas and public open space.  Think about holding onto school lands for this reason.

37.  Create even more flexible zoning to allow for live-work, light manufacturing, and urban agriculture within the City.

38.  Focus on developing Regional and Town Centers outside the central city into viable “villages”.  Do not overlook already existing smaller neighborhood centers based on old streetcar suburbs – while these may not be listed in Metro’s development scenario, many of the pieces of a “village” already exist in these areas and they may only need a single development investment to be re-energized.

39.  Continue to fund several affordable housing programs, including those for workforce housing in an effort to have a city of mixed income levels, not just rich and poor.

40.  Continue to educate people about ADU options.

41.  Look at current parking policy and see if the required minimums for schools, and other large land users could be reduced or even dropped.

42.  UGB – look at what really makes good agricultural land, consider it’s economic impacts as well.

43.  UGB – protect agricultural land from development by creating conservation easements.

44.  Develop metrics to measure how effective our land use policies are so we can be proactive in spotting development trends instead of being reactive.

45.  Increase development fees to reflect the true cost of development.  Automobile-dependent development would pay the highest fees, sort of a fuel use charge.

46.  Continue to create pedestrian-friendly, dense neighborhoods with access to employment, retail, social institutions, and public transportation.

Additional recommendations considered by Land Use & Transportation

Expand the “Drive less. Save More” campaign to include Peak Oil awareness.

Encourage businesses to adopt a “car sharing” mentality

Fostering the adoption of “multi-rider” transportation to reduce single occupancy trips

Offer consulting for businesses and citizens looking to prepare and make changes for Peak Oil

This can be paid for by citizens and businesses by passing a reasonable "Peak Oil Preparation" tax or diverting funds from other programs

Create or expand neighborhood introduction programs

Foster programs that help neighbors get to know one another (like City Repair)

Continue to encourage use of public transportation, biking, walking, and carpooling

Cities can learn from other cities leading the charge with success (Portland, San Francisco, etc.)

Foster neighborhood co-op owned fueling stations

Pair Oregon farmers making alcohol in their own micro-refineries / distilleries with neighborhoods that purchase the fuel from their own alcohol fuel co-op. (Fact: Alcohol can be used as a fuel)

Offer free parking for new Scooter riders

Encourages commuters to shift to efficient modes of transport. Exclude scooters that do not meet California air emissions standards.

Peak Oil Kits to hand out at the DMV

The City of Portland can internally create or outsource the creation of a "Peak Oil Intro Kit" to hand out along with all DMV transactions. This allows the city to track who has received this information for measuring awareness and outreach statistics.

The city could create a requirement that all new and renewing licensed drivers be required to watch a video covering the basics of changes people need to consider, and how they can help reduce the problems.