Two New Parking Policies Put Portland in the Lead on Parking

"We’re going to call it: No city in the Northwest, and few cities in North America, are doing parking policy better than Portland," writes Michael Andersen.

According to Andersen, the city earned this distinction by recently implementing two key pieces of parking policy. The first is a plan to change the price of parking at meters around the city depending on how much demand there is for the parking. The price will fluctuate with the goal of maintaining 65 to 85 percent occupancy rate. It's a move straight out of the Donald Shoup playbook.

"Second, Portland enshrined a longtime practice into official policy [pdf]: at least half the net revenue from new meter districts will be earmarked for reinvestment in that district," reports Andersen. "Specifically, the money will go to public transit discounts, sidewalk improvements, bike infrastructure and other ways to reduce the need to drive in that district." This is another move straight out of the Donald Shoup playbook.

The city of Portland has already ended parking requirements for all Portland developments within 500 feet of a quality transit route.