That time my town's EV charger plan backfired hard

Our city council in Bend, Oregon voted to install six public EV chargers downtown, but they put them right next to the main bus stop. The chargers blocked the bus lane for three weeks straight, causing huge delays. I spoke up at a council meeting and said focusing on public transit access should come before adding more car infrastructure, even electric. They moved the chargers, but the whole thing felt like a shiny object distraction. Has your town made a similar move that looked green but created a different problem?

3 comments

3 Comments

max_brown1mo agoTop Commenter

Drove past that exact setup last month and almost lost it laughing at @diana_kim66 shaking her head at the whole mess from her Prius. Six chargers parked right where the bus lane used to be is like putting a swimming pool in a fire station bay. They moved them eventually but the traffic jams lasted longer than a concrete pour on a hot day. Reminds me of my buddy who bought a Tesla then complained about the charger spots being all snowed in.

diana_kim661mo ago

Honestly that sounds like a basic planning mistake more than some big policy failure. Tbh blocking a bus lane for a few weeks is annoying but they fixed it. Ngl calling it a backfire feels like a bit much.

kim_ramirez31mo ago

You know what, I used to roll my eyes at people who got worked up about stuff like this. I figured hey, at least they're trying to do something for the environment, right? But then a similar thing happened in my town with bike lanes. They painted these fancy green lanes right where the delivery trucks had to park for the grocery store. Suddenly those trucks were double parking in the actual traffic lane every single day, causing these huge backups. I was sitting in that mess thinking okay, I get it now. A good idea that's put in a bad spot isn't really a good idea at all. It just makes people mad at electric cars or bikes or whatever the thing is, instead of the real problem being the setup.