Bureau staff plan, build, manage, and maintain a transportation system with the goal of providing people and businesses access and mobility.

[8] According to the most recent budget,[9] the Bureau is led by the Office of the Director, which directly oversees communication and six division managers as follows: The City Auditor ombudsman's office which takes in complaints from the general public concerning city bureaus reported in its 2018 annual report that they routinely receive the most complaints about PBOT.

[12] In May 2017, Willamette Week first reported PBOT's maintenance leader had subjected subordinates to various forms of hazing, such as shooting BBs and popcorn kernels at them.

[14][15] An internal investigation of the agency later yielded a pattern of "workplace harassment, intimidation, discrimination, dishonesty, retaliation on the basis of sexual orientation and physical violence".

His lawsuit, which sought $250,000, indicated that pranks included "being locked in a dark shed while being bound with duct tape and zip ties.

[21] A PBOT Parking Enforcement Division parking enforcement officer Barbara Lorraine Peterson, a special police officer[22] was convicted of official misconduct in May 2014 for her role in tipping off and accepting kickback for each vehicle tagged as abandoned to illegal tow truck operators whom in turn took them to a crushing yard.

Instead, a PBOT parking enforcement officer was tipping off rogue tow truck drivers soon after they were tagged and they took them to a crushing yard before 72 hours had elapsed.

[23] The Oregonian reports PBOT's then director Leah Treat signed off on hiring Millicent Williams, a candidate with felony conviction[25] for her role in diverting funds from a non-profit she was leading.

[29] Former PBOT parking manager Ellis McCoy was sentenced to serve two years in federal prison for accepting bribery worth $200,000 between 2002 and 2011 from city vendor Cale Meter.

[35] The City of Portland faces a lawsuit says PBOT's non-enforcement of parking within 20 feet of an intersection contributed to a motorcyclist's death.

[36][37][38] The city identified some 350 intersections to remove parking spaces from at the request of transportation commissioner at the time Jo Ann Hardesty.

Nearly two-thirds of the budget falls in the restricted category, meaning the Bureau must follow certain spending guidelines depending on where the money comes from.