Toronto is on the right track with streetcars, according to the mayor of one of North America’s most sustainable cities.

Sam Adams, mayor of Portland, Ore., praised Toronto for having the foresight to preserve its downtown streetcar tracks in the 1970s when other cities, including his own, were scrapping their trolleys.

“I’m jealous,” said Adams after a breakfast speech at the Toronto Board of Trade on Tuesday, though he acknowledged that Toronto’s aging system needs upgrading.

Like Toronto, Portland has downtown streetcars running in mixed traffic. It also has a regional light rail system that travels to the suburbs with fewer stops. Those larger vehicles move in dedicated lanes, similar to the Spadina and St. Clair lines and the suburban light rail envisioned in the Transit City plan.

“We embrace streetcars. We believe they are an important part of our successful future,” said Adams. “There is no other investment we have made that gets the private-sector return.”

Ridership has increased from 1.4 million rides in 2002 to 3.9 million last year, and the system is continually expanding, he said.

Portland also has about 483 kilometres of bike infrastructure and the highest rate of cycling in the United States, with about 8 per cent of all trips made by bike and 15 per cent on transit.

But the city wants, by 2030, to double the number of transit and bike commuters and halve the 66 per cent who drive.

It was a second visit to Toronto for Adams, who had a visit Monday with Mayor David Miller Monday and is attending a green building conference Wednesday.

Toronto’s streetcar and bike networks are considered key issues in the upcoming municipal election. Front-running mayoral candidate Rob Ford has said he would like to eliminate some of the old downtown streetcar routes and has talked about scrapping the Transit City light rail lines.