City Council moved forward yesterday on what this activist testified was a “penny-wise and pound-foolish” policy to seek full cost recovery for metered parking spaces from car-sharing companies (of which we have exactly one in Portland at the moment: Flexcar).
The move will also cap the number of parking spaces in meter districts and limits the number of car-sharing companies with access to on-street parking to two.
While Council seemed to legitimately weigh the trade-offs, I think their timing was entirely off. Car-sharing is new enough that this conversation could easily wait several years. As reported on OPB, this is likely to increase hourly rates for Flexcar users by a dollar and may decrease usage of the service.
Over at OregonLive (in article that for the life of me, I can’t find in the print edition) coverage of the cost recovery is coupled with a longer article on the use of Flexcar.
Technically, Council only authorized administrative rule-making, so there may still be opportunities to moderate this with citizen input. And Council did ask to review the policy again in a year.
By the way, I was gratified that another Portland Transport reader came down to Council to testify!
14 responses to “Council Throws Wet Blanket on Flexcar”
Enlighten me: what is the argument for limiting the number of car-sharing companies?
The fear is that multiple companies will each want a large set of parking spaces (a kind of “land grab”) and will chew up too many on-street spaces.
I testified that this cap would discourage innovation and unjustly reward the first two companies to enter the market.
isn’t the theory of carshare that it allows people to not own cars, thereby *freeing up* on-street spaces?
actually, i know that’s the theory. but what’s the reality?
That’s the theory, and the TRB study (referenced in an earlier post) would seem to confirm this. What Council is worried about is competition driving irrational behavior so that competing companies put more cars out there than the market will support. I think they’re chasing a hypothetical problem and putting the current desirable development of the car-sharing market at risk in the process.
Chris,
Good to meet you yesterday. I was disappointed with the cap and the method of pricing the parking spaces. I hope the PDOT staff keep looking at this. It could be years or never before another player enters the Portland market. If multiple players come into the market, then it seems that the city could create market incentives to let companies compete for spaces at that time. The “land grab” idea sounds alarmist. The pricing is overstated. A better measure would be to look at how many hours per day that blocks with Flex cars at full capacity. At those times the Flexcar is truly costing metered revenue by not having a space for the next car that would otherwise take that space. By that calculation, the cost of Flexcar street spaces would be much more reasonable.
I hate to be more water on the wet blanket, but there are a bunch of off street parking lots where companies can rent space.
M.W.
I hate to be more water on the wet blanket, but there are a bunch of off street parking lots where companies can rent space.
M.W.
The question is not one of availability, but cost. If Flexcar has to pay, either the City or a private lot, then they will have to raise their rates. If their rates go up, fewer people may use the service.
That’s the way business goes though. If I want an office, I have to lease the space, no matter how nice I am to the citizens, I still have to pay.
Unless of course, you’re a taxi company, using a free curbside cab stand, or a delivery company using one of those free loading zones.
Maybe they should pay too, at least the taxi companies…
Pay per use.
Simple concept, rarely used these days.
They want a lot, they should pay for it. People want a road, they should pay for it – EVENLY.
So I guess it boils down to who has the political might to use pull policy to dictate the situation.
Steve Case is, I believe the owner of Flexcar, and the former head of AOL. he has the bucks and does not need any corporate welfare from Portland. And yes the taxis should pay.
M.W.
Steve Case is, I believe the owner of Flexcar, and the former head of AOL. he has the bucks and does not need any corporate welfare from Portland. And yes the taxis should pay.
M.W.