Portland Takes Another Step Toward Multi-Modalism

Jonathan Maus reports that the Portland City Council "unanimously passed an ordinance (PDF) allowing PBOT to use a methodology that uses 'person trips' – meaning trips made not just by people in cars and trucks but also foot, by bike and in transit vehicles."

According to Maus, "the methodology Portland currently uses is based on the Institute of Transportation Engineers (ITE) Trip Generation Manual [pdf] which [Brian Davis, a transportation analyst at Lancaster Engineering] calls, 'very car-oriented.'" That methodology often greatly overestimates the number of car trips a development will generate, resulting in development fees and infrastructure costs that greatly overcompensate for the needs of cars.

The change of methodology comes against the backdrop of a larger effort by the city to restructure its Transportation System Development Charge (TSDC). According to Maus, however, the implications of the decision to measure person trips could extend even further than the TSDC, when combined with the relatively new skepticism toward level of service as a measure of impact. Maus writes: "If we begin to quantify road users as people doing a variety of things — not just driving a car — than we can start looking at a multi-modal level of service and begin planning for the city we want."