a cafe in St. Johns.
(Photo © J. Maus)
The Transportation Options Division within PBOT has released a report on their 2009 SmartTrips Business program that focused on North and Northwest Portland. In a survey about the program’s effectiveness filled out by 72 (out of the 192) businesses involved in the program, 68% of them said that promoting biking and walking helped them market their business.
SmartTrips is an individualized marketing program that encourages options to single-occupancy vehicle trips by distributing free maps and “commuter kits” and empowering participants to promote biking, walking, and transit.
to 4,300 target area employers.
Between May and September of 2009, PBOT’s Options staff worked with 192 employers in the St. John’s, University Park, Northwest 23rd and 21st, and the Pearl District. The project gave out over 4,000 biking and walking maps and distributed over 1,000 “sustainable transportation kits” to employees.
In addition, the SmartTrips program helped businesses with requests for bike racks. 57 employers requested bike racks during the outreach program and so far, PBOT has filled 21 of those requests and 22 are still pending installation (14 of the requests were not granted for various reasons).
PBOT also carried out a survey after the program was completed. 72 businesses responded. Here are some results:
- 68% said that “promoting bicycling and walking helps market their business.”
- 70% of the businesses reported that the SmartTrips Business program helped their business in some way.
- 69% reported that the employee kits helped their workers bike, walk, take transit, or carpool more.
- 75% reported that the neighborhood maps helped their customers access their business by walking or cycling.
PBOT’s SmartTrips program focuses on a different area of the city each year. This business-focused program coincided with a residential SmartTrips program in the same area. Learn more about the SmartTrips program on the City’s website.