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The photo that Nick Zukin posted to his Facebook page protesting the number of parking spots occupied by Car2Go cars outside his Chinatown restaurant. The photo has been edited to remove because of profanity in the last sentence of his message to Car2Go.

(Courtesy of Nick Zukin)

Car2Go is supposed to improve Portland's livability. But Nick Zukin, owner of the popular Chinatown eatery Mi Mero Mole, isn't so sure the car-sharing company's ubiquitous micro vehicles are good for business.

On a recent morning, as the restaurant's busy lunch hour approached, pod-like Car2Gos occupied six of the 10 spaces on the street outside the Mexican restaurant.

Frustrated, Zukin snapped a photo of the scene at Northwest Couch Street and Fifth Avenue and posted it on Facebook. To drive home his point, he gave each of the blue-and-white car in the picture a number.

Using the Cadillac of swear words, he also wrote that Car2Go gave "0%" response to his ongoing complaints about its cars loitering in metered parking spaces that customers could be using.

Zukin's social-media rant, which drew several sympathetic responses, underscores a simmering frustration among some Portlanders who think Car2Go does a lousy job of moving around its 518 Smart cars.

"I think it does hurt business," Zukin told The Oregonian/OregonLive.

Residents have complained about what feels like a Car2Go invasion where several vehicles frequently line the curbs in their neighborhoods for several days. And too often, Zukin said, the stubby two-seaters are clustered for hours in metered spots, hogging much of downtown's already tight on-street parking inventory.

As the Portland Bureau of Transportation ratchets up efforts to discourage commuters from driving - or even owning -- private vehicles in the central city, it has actively promoted car-sharing services. Still, city officials appear increasingly open to putting new restrictions on Car2Go in Portland's blossoming retail and restaurant districts.

Car2Go customers pay for each minute they use a vehicle. Parking, gas and insurance are included in the cost. Cars can be parked at metered parking marked for an hour or more - and stay for longer than the time limit.

One way to deal with business owners' complaints about Car2Go "stacking" would be to limit parking to less than an hour outside more storefronts, said Diane Dulken, a PBOT spokeswoman.

"That way Car2Go vehicles couldn't park there," Dulken said. "But at the same time, that would limit the time that regular customers had."

PBOT is in the process of finalizing a new annual permit for Car2Go, which currently requires the company to pay the city $674,810 a year for street parking.

Are Car2Go's "pods" multiplying? A reader-submitted photo of car-share vehicles stacking up on his Southeast Portland street.

City Hall wants to hear directly from business owners and residents concerned with Car2Gos bunching up so that it can assess the severity of the problem and "work towards the best option," Dulken said.

At the same time, transportations officials say, business owners shouldn't dismiss Car2Go users as freeloaders. They could also be customers. "It's useful to take a look at the overall benefits of car-sharing and how it provides increased access by providing an additional transportation choice," Dulken said.

Since launching in 2012, Austin-based Car2Go has become wildly popular in Portland, where the fleet has nearly doubled from 230 vehicles and the "home area" has stretched to 42 square miles.

Company managers say vehicles tend to move organically around the city - thanks to more than 35,000 local members. Typically, a vehicle sits idle in a parking spot for only two or three hours, said Car2Go spokeswoman Dacyl Armendariz.

"When we are contacted by a business owner," Armendariz said, "our fleet team will move the vehicle in question per their request."

But that's not what happened when Zukin and his restaurant manager called the local Car2Go office for help with the vehicles clustered outside his business, he said.

"They said, 'Sorry, there's nothing we can do about it,'" Zukin said. "Why would they want six cars just sitting on the same block. That doesn't seem like a good distribution of inventory."

Armendariz agrees with that last point. She said the company plans to investigate the incident.

Portland is far from

.

Earlier this year, the city of Calgary responded to concerns about Car2Gos clustering along streets by approving a new parking surcharge that the company must pay if its vehicles take up 25 percent or more of available space in meter zones. The cars are tracked electronically and the fee is averaged over a month.

However, transportation planners maintain the myriad benefits of car-sharing to the community -- from reduced air pollution and congestion to increased mobility for people who can't afford to own a car -- far outweigh any annoyances.

In theory, commuters with a Car2Go membership are more likely to take public transit or bicycle to work if they know there's a supply on-demand rental cars scattered around the city for errands and emergencies.

That said, PBOT officials say they are sympathetic to Zukin and others who want Car2Go to be more aggressive with how it plays musical cars.

If someone feels Car2Go isn't being responsive to complaints about cars taking up parking spots, "then that person should contact PBOT and we will work with them," Dulken said.

If you feel that things are stacking up, call the Portland Car2Go office at 877-488-4224. For backup, PBOT's number is 503-823-5185.

-- Joseph Rose

503-221-8029

jrose@oregonian.com

@josephjrose