Portland Increases Downtown Parking Fees To Fund Transit Passes

A new 20 cent per spot “climate fee” for street parking in downtown Portland, Oregon is “intended to remind people of ‘the externalized costs of driving (including greenhouse gas emissions, traffic congestion, and use of roadway space),’” writes Helen Huiskes in Willamette Week.

The fee was the brainchild of a city task force, which met for a year to find ways to “address the climate crisis by reducing driving, while also addressing the historic inequities in our transportation system,” says PBOT spokeswoman Hannah Schafer.

The fee is the first part of a package of strategies recommended by the task force. “Schafer says the bureau expects to raise $2 million in the first year, and use that money provide transit passes to people living in affordable housing and give Biketown rides to people receiving social services.” According to the article, “City Hall has not created exemptions for low-income drivers—although the task force suggested it try.”