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Comprehensive Plan Transportation Element <br />congested areas. In addition, tolls and parking charges are electronically adjusted for changing <br />travel conditions. Finally, "on -board" monitors are being deployed on an experimental basis and <br />will enable real-time billing for the use of transportation facilities at peak and off-peak hours. <br />None of the congestion pricing strategies, however, are applicable to Indian River County due <br />primarily to technical limitations. <br />• Per -Mile Charges <br />Many research institutions are recommending a shift from a gas -tax based funding approach to a <br />cost -per -mile approach, whereby drivers receive bills tied to periodic odometer readings. This <br />approach reduces the total administrative cost of collecting transportation revenue and more <br />closely reconciles use, but introduces many new problems. For example, it removes part of the <br />incentive, which now exists, to drive fuel-efficient vehicles. It also opens up the potential for <br />fraud and still does not address peak -hour pricing any better than the gas tax. While the issue <br />has been widely discussed at the national level and implemented through pilot programs in a <br />number of jurisdictions, a per -mile charge system is beyond the capabilities of Indian River <br />County to implement without a state or federal mandate. <br />• Parking Provision and Management <br />Many land development policies used throughout the country create expenses that are born by <br />citizens at large, but are of disproportionate benefit to drivers in general and drivers of single <br />occupant automobiles, in particular. For example, private off-street parking requirements in <br />Indian River County's land development regulations create an expense paid for by developers <br />and passed along to all consumers in the form of higher prices for goods and services. Hence, <br />persons walking, taking public transportation, or carpooling to businesses are subsidizing single - <br />occupant vehicle travel, when just the opposite is the preferred policy in terms of congestion <br />management. Due to Indian River County's almost exclusive dependence on the automobile, <br />however, it is difficult to justify waiving the parking requirement except in a downtown or <br />shared parking setting. <br />• Transportation Demand Management contributions (TDM) <br />Adequately pricing the supply of transportation is one alternative for discouraging inefficient use <br />of the transportation system. Yet another alternative is to reward efficient practices. Currently, <br />Indian River County engages in some of these practices, such as subsidizing transit fares and <br />requiring the construction of sidewalks and bicycle lanes as part of all new development. Those <br />and other TDM strategies were recommended as action steps by the Committee for a Sustainable <br />Treasure Coast. Some of the TDM strategies that could result in policy initiatives in Indian River <br />County include developing employer carpooling or ridesharing programs; encouraging <br />employers to stagger work hours; and providing facilities for bicycle and pedestrian commuting. <br />• Transit Grant Funding <br />In recent years, the MPO has applied for and received a substantial increase in transit operating <br />and capital grant funding. Since the Vero Beach -Sebastian urbanized area contains fewer than <br />Community Development Department Indian River County 120 <br />