| Local Policy Description: | The city and county shall pursue energy-efficient transportation that provides convenient, affordable access to goods, jobs, education, leisure, and information with reduced environmental impact. The emission reduction efforts will focus around the principles listed below.
Principles for Reducing Transportation Emissions
1. Reduce the need for trips by using telecommunications and remote access whenever possible.
2. Encourage people who must travel to do so on foot, by bicycle, on transit, or as part of a rideshare.
3. Implement mechanisms to ensure that people who drive pay the full social cost of driving.
4. Improve access to alternative-fuel and highly fuel-efficient vehicles.*
The city and county plan to pursue reductions via the specific internal local government actions and community initiatives listed below.
The government will take action by 2003 to:
Require city and county agencies to offer bus tickets to visitors who arrive by transit in any situation where the agency validates parking.
Implement city and county policies to encourage transit whenever appropriate and to provide employees with transit tickets for travel on business.
Expand city and county transit-pass subsidy programs.
Purchase a minimum of 25 city and five county hybrid gasoline-electric vehicles with fuel efficiency of at least 45 mpg.
Educate all employees on fuel-efficient driving practices, such as avoiding unnecessary idling.
Implement EPA’s “Best Environmental Practices for Fleet Maintenance” in the
county’s Fleet Services Shop.
The government will take action by 2010 to:
Convert traffic signals to LED technologies.
Convert street lights and traffic signals to more efficient technologies as they become available.
Reduce per employee vehicle miles traveled in city and county administrative vehicles by 20 percent by 2010 by promoting teleconferencing and the availability of pedestrian, bicycle, transit, and rideshare options for employees on business.
Promote city and county tele-work and flexible hours policies and provide education to agency managers to encourage consistent application of the policies. Enable 25 percent of city and county employees to tele-work or work compressed schedules to avoid commuting at least one day every two weeks.
Expand the participation of city and county agencies in vehicle-sharing programs.
Increase the average fuel efficiency of passenger vehicles in the city and county motor pools to 35 mpg.
The community will take action by 2003 to:
Support expanded transit lines and increased frequency of service on major transit arterials.
Expand the number of businesses that offer transit tickets to shoppers who request them.
Work with Tri-Met to improve access to transit service.
a. Encourage shared parking opportunities such as movie theaters with primary parking needs in evenings and churches or other facilities with weekend-only parking needs.
b. Support additional park-and-ride lots in locations where substantial VMT reductions can be achieved.
c. Provide additional services such as secure, covered bicycle parking, coffee and newspapers during peak hours, and other amenities.
d. Continue and expand projects that increase pedestrian accessibility to transit stops, neighborhood shopping areas, schools, churches, and parks.
e. Help transit riders to show their neighbors, friends, and co-workers how easy it is to take transit.
Support the expansion of Tri-Met’s “Fareless Square” to appropriate areas.
Continue to provide maps highlighting alternative modes of transportation and preferred routes for those modes.
Publicize and participate in campaigns to promote options to single-occupancy vehicle travel.
a. Implement an area-wide, internet-based rideshare program to encourage use of carpools and vanpools.
b. Establish a storefront “transportation options center” in downtown Portland to help residents and visitors learn and use a variety of travel alternatives.
c. Support bicycling and walking tours and transportation fairs.
Provide secure, covered bicycle parking at schools, in commercial districts, and at other destinations.
Work with businesses to encourage all employers who offer subsidized parking to employees also to offer a parking “cash out”—an equivalent payment to employees who do not require vehicle parking.
Strongly advocate raising the federal Corporate Average Fuel Economy standards for new automobiles to 45 mpg and for light duty trucks to 35 mpg.
Promote growth through redevelopment and infill that maintains or improves the quality of life for existing neighborhoods.
a. Promote proximate commuting (i.e., living near a workplace).
b. Support continued use of transportation demand management strategies.
Continue to implement the city’s Transportation System Plan, which includes policies to reduce vehicle miles traveled, increase non-motorized vehicle trips, and support the connection between land use and transportation.
Partner with surrounding communities and Metro to implement the Regional Transportation Plan and the 2040 Growth Concept it complements, including light rail lines, rapid bus, frequent bus service, high-occupancy vehicle lanes, and the addition of new and improvement of existing intermodal connections.
Implement new parking ratios in City Title 33 and support programs that allow for innovative new development to occur with a minimum number of parking spaces.
The community will take action by 2010 to:
Provide transit passes for all Portland residents funded through a household levy or business tax.
Continue the city and county’s signal optimization plans until all major streets and roads are optimized for vehicles, bicycles, and pedestrians.
Continue to improve Portland’s pedestrian and bicycle infrastructure, and meet the needs of pedestrians and both children and adult cyclists.
Promote tele-work, compressed workweeks, and other flexible-schedule work options.
a. Encourage the establishment and use of home and satellite offices.
b. Establish a quick-response system to encourage tele-work during winter storms,
Summer ozone alerts, and major road construction projects.
c. Support the availability and use of tele- and video-conferencing facilities.
Promote vehicle sharing to individuals and businesses.
Enhance transportation management associations (TMAs) and encourage the development of TMAs in all regional centers to make more efficient use of existing transportation resources.
Establish neighborhood-level ride-share cooperatives to encourage neighbors to carpool and reduce both work and non-work trips.
Continue and expand education efforts in schools to promote safe transportation alternatives to single-occupancy vehicles and smart use of cars (e.g. trip chaining, ride sharing, and car sharing).
Extend parking pricing to all appropriate commercial areas to reduce single-occupancy vehicle use.
Support the use of auto insurance premiums based on the number of miles a car is driven.
Support the use of congestion pricing on appropriate regional roadways.
Work with financial institutions to promote location-efficient mortgages.
Encourage the state to add a fee to vehicle-inspection charges to fund transportation options education.
Investigate a city-wide parking permit and/or state-wide registration fee based on a vehicle’s greenhouse gas emissions. Revenue will be used to reduce use of single-occupancy vehicles.
Work with the state to provide loans and other financial incentives to promote the purchase of 50,000 vehicles with fuel efficiency of at least 45 mpg by business, government, and individuals.
Encourage the use of low- or no-CO2 technologies in non-road vehicles and equipment, such as electric forklifts and medium-duty construction equipment.
Work with vehicle maintenance providers to educate consumers about the potential savings and impact on fuel consumption of maintaining vehicles properly and practicing fuel-efficient driving techniques.
Support programs to retire and recycle fuel-inefficient vehicles.
Promote efficient transportation options such as high-speed rail for commuting between northwest urban centers.
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