This city of Bend graphic shows some of what the transportation fee is spent on.

For houses and apartments, the city of Bend doesn’t tie its city transportation fee to how much a residence uses the city’s transportation system.

How could it? The city tracking private vehicles? Who would want that?

But for nonresidential buildings, the city is embarking on an effort to tie the fee to how intensely what goes on in the building generates trips along with square footage.

Bend’s transportation fee raises money to pay for operations and maintenance of the city’s transportation system — roads, sidewalks, bike lanes, plowing and so on. The plan is to raise the rate. It will raise about $5 million this first year, $10 million the second and $15 million the third.

Right now the city’s transportation fee for a single-unit house is $5.60 a month. An apartment pays $4.15. Those are expected to about double next year.

Most nonresidential buildings pay $6.25 per 1,000 square feet up to the first 50,000 square feet. They then pay less per square foot for sizes larger than that.

Next year, the plan is to incorporate the intensity of the use into the calculation for nonresidential buildings. The city might set tiers by different types of uses, according to a presentation at a city committee earlier this week. For instance, a hardware store may be put in a lower tier than a convenience store. There are manuals based on studies used by transportation engineers that classify types of businesses by the numbers of trips they generate.

Do you think that is fair? Do you have a better suggestion? Tell Bend City Councilors what you think.