About Jeff Allen, Executive Director, CEO

Jeff Allen has served as Executive Director of Forth, a trade association and advocate for electric and smart mobility, since its founding in 2011. He previously served as Executive Director of the Oregon Environmental Council and as an organizational development consultant. He holds a Master’s in Public Policy from the Goldman School and graduated Phi Beta Kappa from the University of Michigan. Mr. Allen will be speaking and leading a workshop on transportation electrification at the Meeting of the Minds 2020 Annual Summit in February.

Why Cities Should Support Right-of-Way Charging

Cities that are serious about reducing carbon pollution from transportation need to promote walking and biking, expand transit and micro-mobility services, manage development, and use pricing to reduce traffic and parking congestion.

Many of these steps are designed to reduce the use of single occupancy cars. At the same time, though, cities will also need to electrify everything that moves, including those passenger cars. Just as our approach to solid waste requires a “reduce, reuse, recycle” approach, city transportation policy needs to pursue a “both-and” strategy. Making it easier to use an electric car does not conflict with encouraging alternative transportation options, any more than making it easier to recycle conflicts with discouraging single-use packaging.