Councilors weigh Transport Network Company fee increase as potential PBOT revenue source

The committee discussed a proposal to raise Portland's Transport Network Company (TNC) fee beyond the mayor's suggested increase and whether those revenues could free up general fund dollars for other priorities.

Councilors described the mayor's proposal to increase the TNC fee from $0.65 to $1.30 and reported a competing amendment that would raise the fee to $2.00 per ride. Councilor Novick noted there are legal and code constraints on how TNC fee revenue can be spent and that an ordinance-level code change may be necessary to repurpose any incremental revenue for non-regulatory PBOT work. "There has to be an ordinance change for the TNC money not to be used for regulatory work," he said.

PBOT representative Jeremy confirmed the bureau's preference to make small code changes so the fee language clearly prioritizes regulatory cost recovery first, then allows excess revenues to be used for broader transportation purposes: "We just feel it would be a lot cleaner in the code if we made those changes." Committee members also debated fairness and distributional effects: one councilor warned a higher per-ride fee would be passed directly to riders and could function as a regressive cost on residents who rely on ride-hail services.

Councilors discussed possible uses for incremental revenue, including backfilling general fund support previously moved into PBOT and funding safety or maintenance programs within PBOT. Several members urged clarity on legal limits and asked PBOT staff to return with the ordinance language and an accounting of how much a proposed fee increase would net to PBOT and how much it might free up in general fund support.