Group B Background 

Overview

Before we started trying to solve the problem presented to us, we began by breaking up into small groups to do initial research. This gave us a better understanding of the problem and how best to move forward with our work. We then created a more situated problem statement, narrowing down the original one into a question we felt like we could realistically tackle in this class.

How do we improve and incentivize current systems (the Otterbus, TriMet, carpooling) to make them more appealing than single-occupancy vehicles?

Single-occupancy vehicles are the least effective method of personal transportation, as they are environmentally unsustainable and create problems for personal finance and urban infrastructure. Some of our initial thoughts on answering this question included:

• New student orientation initiatives

• Flyers, pamphlets, and physical media were given out to Lewis & Clark College community members

• Digital media (such as videos and updated website pages)

• Improvements to the Otterbus App that make learning to use the Otterbus more accessible and less daunting

• Looking into student-run operations that incentivize carpooling and bike rental programs

• Creating new programs where students can experiment with public transportation together

• Investigating better Otterbus Routes

Using this question to guide us throughout the rest of the semester, we hoped to craft a solution to make small, realistic improvements to the existing transportation systems and methods that educate the community about them. We brainstormed, researched, and improved upon our initial ideas to develop the final solution presented later within this website. We collaborated through class discussions, small group work, and cross-section communication meetings to study how we could best achieve this goal both at Lewis & Clark and the wider Portland metropolitan area.