The City of Portland Bureau of Transportation is building a network of neighborhood greenways all across the city to make walking, biking, and rolling more comfortable for all Portlanders.

What are neighborhood greenways?  They are low-traffic and low-speed residential streets that provide an alternative to the busier streets they parallel.  Neighborhood greenways are designed especially for people to feel comfortable and safe when walking, biking, and rolling.

Portland's signature neighborhood greenway follows NE Going Street from N Vancouver to NE 41st and NE Alberta from NE 41st to NE 72nd.  To help promote the Going Street neighborhood greenway PBOT is offering the chance to win a Trek commuter bike (donated by our friends at Bike Gallery) by exploring the route. 

Simply answer four questions about the route and submit your answers online, for a chance to win. 

All of the details can be found here. 

This is a great way to check out a neighborhood greenway, have fun, and be active.  Please explore the website, neighborhoodgreenways.org to learn more about upcoming construction projects and where you can find a neighborhood greenway in your area.

See you on the greenway!

Car2Go, the one-way car sharing company from Daimler North America, is expanding both the number of vehicles  in Portland along with the size of the Portland service area. 

This week, car2go will add 30 electric vehicles to their existing fleet of 250 SmartCars. The Portland "Home Area" - where you can pick up or drop off a car - will also be expanded. The new boundaries are:

• North: N. Lombard Street, including Swan Island
• South:  SE Tacoma to 99E to SE Woodstock Blvd
• East:  Gateway Transit Center (on street parking area)  from I-205 to NE 102nd Avenue.
• West: NW 25th Avenue

 “Adding electric vehicles is the next step in an already successful carsharing collaboration between the city and car2go, said Portland Mayor Sam Adams. Emissions-free carsharing is a natural progression for this city’s overall clean transportation plan and our healthy and sustainable future.”

Car2go allows members to rent cars by the minute without a reservation. The company reports having 6000 Portland members.

Portlanders have the nation's widest selection of car share choices of any city in the US. Zipcar, car2go and two peer to peer car sharing companies -  Getaround (peer to peer carsharing) and RelayRides all operate in Portland.

Want to learn more about car sharing? Read our car sharing 2.0 series.

The July Carefree Commuter Challenge is entering the home stretch. 

You still have a few days to save money at the pump, get energized during your commute and win awesome prizes from the Challenge sponsors.

If you haven't already, register at DriveLessConnect.com

• Log into your account and click on "Calendar" to log trips
• Log trips on any work day that you commuted by transit, rideshare, walking/rolling, transit, telework or bike.

 Thanks to the Challenge sponsors, you will be entered to win the following great prizes:

• Log 5 days of commute trips in July to win 1 of 3 Ultra HD Flip Cameras
• Log 10 days of commute trips in July to win 1 of 3 Portable DVD Players
• Log 20 days of commute trips in July to win 1 of 3 iPads with Wi-Fi.

Whether it's for public policy or parenting, it's the classic tactical dilemma: do you change behavior with the figurative carrot or stick?

A number of large cities including London, Florence, and Stockholm have used financial pain to fight congestion. Known as "congestion pricing," drivers pay a fee when entering a designated district with congestion problems. In London, congestion dropped by 30% and traffic volumes dropped by 16% in the program's first year. (Transport London reports that congestion has returned due to a number of public works projects).

Even though we all want to reduce traffic congestion, nobody likes to pay more for something, and that makes congestion pricing difficult to implement.

We wrote before about a program that reduced speeding by paying participants to drive the speed limit. Ars Technica posed a similar question: could you cut congestion by paying people not to drive during rush hour?

Stanford University is experimenting with this premise to address a notoriously congested commute onto campus.  The program, called CAPRI, enters drivers in a online social game where they could win up to $50 for driving to campus outside of peak (i.e., congested) periods.

A second phase of the project also rewards drivers to park in less congested parking lots to reduce pollution and congestion from drivers circling for a parking space.

The results are not yet in, but on the success of a similar program in Bangalore, India the US Department of Transportation has awarded Stanford $3 million for further study.

If you carpool, ride transit, bike or walk to work already: thank you! Your actions have helped keep Portland's air clean and its roads less congested. 

Women on Bikes Ride

Ride Local, Shop Local

Thursday, August 23rd

6:00 p.m. (1.5 hour ride)

Meet at Clinton Park, SE 57th and Woodward

If you're looking to shop by bike and are looking for fun ride to try it out, this Thursday is for you. Women on Bikes, a serious of fabulous clinics and fun rides, will be heading to Buckman Farmers' Market to peruse and consume the summer's bounty.

Women on Bikes offers a chance to connect with other women on beginners' 8-12 mile bike rides.  Find out about new routes, exchange stories and tips, and share a few laughs while pedaling around Portland.  Plus this year offers a chance to cruise around the Sunday Parkways routes with a fun group of women.

The Women on Bikes schedule of rides and clinics continues through September.

For more information, contact Janis McDonald at 503-823-5358 or click here to email her.