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| PLACE for Sustainable Transit | |
|---|---|
| Name | PLACE for Sustainable Transit |
| Type | Transit planning institute |
| Founded | 2008 |
| Location | Portland, Oregon |
PLACE for Sustainable Transit
PLACE for Sustainable Transit is a non-profit urban mobility initiative based in Portland, Oregon, focused on creating modal-shift strategies to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and promote accessibility. The organization collaborates with municipalities, transit agencies, academic institutions, foundations, and development firms to integrate rail, bus rapid transit, active transportation, and shared micro-mobility into metropolitan planning. Its work bridges applied research, pilot projects, and policy advocacy to influence infrastructure investment and land use decisions.
PLACE partners with municipal agencies such as the Portland Bureau of Transportation, regional entities like Metro (Oregon regional government), and transit operators including TriMet to design multimodal corridors informed by studies from National Renewable Energy Laboratory, RAND Corporation, and university centers such as the University of Oregon Sustainable Cities Initiative and the Portland State University Transportation Research and Education Center. It convenes technical working groups with stakeholders from the Federal Transit Administration, the Oregon Department of Transportation, philanthropic funders including the Rockefeller Foundation and the Bullitt Foundation, and advocacy groups like Transportation for America and American Public Transportation Association to align capital programs with equitable access goals.
Founded in 2008 by urban planners and transit engineers who had prior affiliations with the City of Portland, TriMet, and the Oregon Department of Land Conservation and Development, PLACE originated amid a wave of sustainable planning influenced by global frameworks such as the C40 Cities Climate Leadership Group and the International Association of Public Transport (UITP). Early projects included corridor redesigns influenced by the Portland Streetcar expansion and pilot programs modeled after Bogotá's TransMilenio and Curitiba BRT. PLACE received seed funding from the Lloyd Family Foundation and technical assistance grants from the Federal Highway Administration and later scaled through grants from the National Science Foundation and partnerships with firms like CH2M Hill and AECOM.
PLACE applies design principles rooted in transit-oriented development exemplified by projects such as Pearl District, Portland and transit corridors inspired by the MAX Light Rail network. Its toolkit emphasizes dedicated lanes, signal priority systems used on corridors like 9th Avenue (Portland), curbspace management strategies derived from San Francisco Municipal Transportation Agency pilots, and complete streets metrics referenced by the National Complete Streets Coalition. PLACE collaborates with engineering teams from ZGF Architects and HDR, Inc. to implement stormwater swales, green infrastructure influenced by the Green Streets Program (Portland), and low-emission depot designs modeled on King County Metro facilities.
PLACE supports operators through service-planning analyses leveraging models from Institute for Transportation and Development Policy and scheduling tools akin to those used by Metropolitan Transportation Authority (New York) and Transport for London. It facilitates microtransit pilots in partnership with private mobility providers like Zipcar and shared-bike programs patterned after Citi Bike and Biketown (Portland). PLACE has conducted fare-integration studies referencing systems such as ORCA card and consulted on mobility-as-a-service platforms similar to those deployed by Whim (app). Training programs for agency staff have been co-delivered with academic partners including Oregon State University and Massachusetts Institute of Technology.
PLACE evaluates impacts with methods drawn from the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change reporting frameworks and emissions accounting used by the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA). Case studies compare lifecycle emissions to bus electrification pilots linked to the Zero Emission Bus (ZEB) initiative and examine equity outcomes referencing PolicyLink analyses and the Urban Institute. PLACE’s community engagement practices mirror approaches by the National League of Cities and the Equitable Cities Initiative (Groundwork USA), ensuring investments address displacement risks identified in studies of gentrification in Portland and protect access for riders served by Oregon Health Authority programs.
PLACE engages in policy work with state and federal policymakers from the Oregon Legislative Assembly and collaborates on grant applications to the Federal Transit Administration’s Capital Investment Grants program and the U.S. Department of Transportation’s BUILD grants. It advises municipal code changes modeled after the Portland Comprehensive Plan and zoning reforms inspired by Minneapolis 2040 and Vancouver (British Columbia) Transit-Oriented Development policies. Funding streams for PLACE projects have included philanthropic capital from the Ford Foundation and programmatic support from the Bloomberg Philanthropies initiative on urban mobility.
Looking ahead, PLACE is scaling pilots in vehicle electrification, dynamic bus lanes, and curb management informed by pilots in Los Angeles County Metropolitan Transportation Authority and Seattle Department of Transportation. Research collaborations are expanding with the National Academy of Sciences and technology partners including Siemens Mobility and NextBus to deploy predictive operations and real-time traveler information. PLACE aims to replicate corridor models in partner regions such as Eugene, Oregon, Salem, Oregon, and international cities influenced by Dublin (Ireland), Copenhagen, and Vancouver, British Columbia, while continuing to refine equity metrics aligned with the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals.
Category:Transportation planning organizations in the United States