Portland Parking

[Shilo Rune 96]

Portland will test pay-by-phone street parking starting in August


Photo courtesy of The Oregonian.

An Atlanta company bets Portland residents and visitors will pay more to park if it means greater convenience.

Starting next month, Pearl District drivers will test technology that allows people to pay for street parking with a cell phone. No more walking to the meter in the middle of the block. No more fishing out coins or a credit card while juggling a toddler and an umbrella. And no more messy window stickers.

Instead, a few taps on a cell phone will authorize a credit card payment of the meter rate -- plus a 35-cent fee. And if your time is running out while you sit in a meeting or finish some shopping? Just pull out your phone and, for another 35 cents, add more.

The 3-year-old system, by Atlanta company Parkmobile, is already running in about 100 U.S. jurisdictions. Parkmobile will offer it in the Pearl for 90 days. If it catches on -- as it did in Washington, D.C., this summer -- the program could expand to other parts of Portland.

Read the full article here....

[Shilo Rune 96]

I still thought parking on the same side of the street for longer than the stated time (on the sign) was illegal! Yikes, I've been making more work for myself.

[65MAX]

Originally Posted by Shilo Rune 96

I still thought parking on the same side of the street for longer than the stated time (on the sign) was illegal! Yikes, I've been making more work for myself.

It is. I think what they meant to say is IF you haven't already maxed out your time, you can remotely add more time to your meter.

[urbanlife]

I could see Wheeler doing something that requires buildings without parking to ask for lower rents than buildings with parking. If a developer is going to save money by not including parking, then they shouldn't be allowed to ask for as much in rent as a building that does have parking.

[mhays]

That's an area where the market does fine...if one company can build something more cheaply, then others probably will too. They'll compete with each other on price.

Density can be way, way higher and costs way, way lower without parking. Sometimes parking is the limiting factor. Small sites make parking extremely inefficient, especially beyond a single level. Or it's impossible to do a curb cut at all.

Picture a 50x100 site. That might be a few townhouses with a parking space each. At most, maybe 2/3 of the ground floor is parking with about seven spaces. Or maybe the alley has four spaces next to the back door. But alternatively, what about 20 apartments, or 40-50 micros? That saves cost on land per unit, and it encourages smaller units. That's how the market can serve a segment of the working poor, students, etc., without a subsidy.

[urbanlife]

Oh, I forgot to mention this one, and I am not sure if anyone on here noticed. I believe all of downtown Portland has changed its street parking hours, they have done away with the 90 minute, 3 hour, and such parking hours and replaced them with 2hours, 4hours, and 6hours to make it easier for people parking downtown.

[65MAX]

Originally Posted by urbanlife

Oh, I forgot to mention this one, and I am not sure if anyone on here noticed. I believe all of downtown Portland has changed its street parking hours, they have done away with the 90 minute, 3 hour, and such parking hours and replaced them with 2hours, 4hours, and 6hours to make it easier for people parking downtown.

That may be a possibility in the future, but it's certainly not the case right now. There is still 15 minute, 1 hour, 90 minute, 2 hour, 3 hour, 4 hour and 5 hour parking throughout the central city. Also, I'm not sure how limiting parking spaces to 2, 4 and 6 hours makes it easier to park.

[urbanlife]

Originally Posted by 65MAX

That may be a possibility in the future, but it's certainly not the case right now. There is still 15 minute, 1 hour, 90 minute, 2 hour, 3 hour, 4 hour and 5 hour parking throughout the central city. Also, I'm not sure how limiting parking spaces to 2, 4 and 6 hours makes it easier to park.

The 15 minute spots still exist, but the 90 minute, 3 hour, and 5 hour spots should either be all gone by now or on their way to being gone. I talked to some city people last week as they were changing the signs on the block I work downtown, and they said they were changing the signs because the city was doing away with those other time limits and going with a more streamlined system.

[maccoinnich]

Parking Isn't Going to Be Required at Portland Condos/Apartments Anymore



Portland's years-long experiment with parking requirements ends in 2018.

A little more than three years after Portland City Council troubled smart-growth advocates by forcing apartment or condo buildings of more than 30 units to provide some amount of off-street parking to residents, a somewhat chastened council voted Tuesday to undo the change.

"I made a mistake," City Commissioner Steve Novick said of his vote to enact parking requirements in the spring of 2013. "Only Commissioner [Dan] Saltzman did the right thing at that time and opposed that proposal."

"I voted for it, and I think it was a mistake," added Mayor Charlie Hales.

Now, effective January 2018, the policy should be a thing of the past. It had been a consistent target of density advocates since its inception.

...continues at the Portland Mercury.

[hat]

Originally Posted by maccoinnich

...continues at the Portland Mercury.

Fantastic move. Another couple parking policies I would love the council to take up: 1) Progressively increase taxes on surface parking lots >10 spaces in the CBD, 2) Initiate congestion pricing for cars entering downtown, and 3) Market-priced parking around the city (maintaining average 20% vacancy) such as that in San Fran. These three policies would have a substantial affect on the availability of space for other uses such as increased ped. and bike spaces.

[RED_PDXer]

Originally Posted by hat

Fantastic move. Another couple parking policies I would love the council to take up: 1) Progressively increase taxes on surface parking lots >10 spaces in the CBD, 2) Initiate congestion pricing for cars entering downtown, and 3) Market-priced parking around the city (maintaining average 20% vacancy) such as that in San Fran. These three policies would have a substantial affect on the availability of space for other uses such as increased ped. and bike spaces.

I would love to see congestion pricing or even just a cordon charge of $5 to enter the downtown area with a private vehicle. That would equal a day pass on transit and they could use the money for transit improvements. Someday...

[hat]

Interesting story in streetsblog about parking policy in Spokane and Philly where the cities give tax incentives to companies who develop parking lots.

The CEID could use both stick and carrot with similar methods. Increase taxes on surface parking and offer tax breaks on development of surface parking. Downtown Spokane may not be as much of a moonscape as downtown Portland, but the CEID gives it a good competitor.