PORTLAND, Ore. (KOIN) – The city of Portland will raise parking fees in part of the Lloyd District during large events with the hope it will discourage people from driving to the area.
The Portland Bureau of Transportation is partnering with Lloyd District-area businesses and residents to implement new rates for on-street parking during large-scale events. They want these parking fees to encourage people to instead use public transit or to bike to events.
The goal is to reduce congestion and pollution in the area.
Starting Friday, on-street parking will cost $3 an hour, up from $1 an hour, and meters will operate until 10 p.m. The new rate will be in effect all day, from 8 a.m. to 10 p.m., Friday, Sept. 9 through Sunday, Sept. 11 – during the Rose City Comic Con.
The all-day rate will be in effect on three other days through the end of 2022. On 24 other days, the higher rate will be in effect only from 5 p.m. to 10 p.m. The Portland Trail Blazers have home games on most of those days.
“When people attend conventions and pro sports games in the busy neighborhood, it’s less expensive for them to drive and park their cars in public, on-street parking spaces than it is to pay the $5 for a round-trip fare on public transit. This creates severe parking shortages,” PBOT wrote in a news release.
The bureau said parking occupancy jumps from about 30 percent normally to more than 90 percent during event days.
“With nine out of 10 spaces occupied, people drive in circles in the area to find parking, driving while distracted and creating congestion and delays for bus service and local residents and businesses,” PBOT said.
Portland City Council approved the event district for the Lloyd area in April. It allows PBOT to charge $3 an hour for parking during the 90 events a year that draw more than 10,000 visitors to the area.
The city said higher meter rates and extended hours of enforcement have been successful in managing parking near Providence Park Stadium in the past.
The Lloyd Event District perimeter includes the stretch of North Interstate Avenue between Veterans Memorial Coliseum and the Oregon Convention Center, Northeast Lloyd Boulevard from the Oregon Convention Center to Northeast 9th Avenue, and a stretch of Northeast Broadway.