City Council approves taxi fare increase, asks staff for 30-day report on senior pickup

The Los Angeles City Council on April 28 approved an ordinance to raise taxicab fares, advancing a package of changes the council said are intended to help taxi drivers keep pace with rising operating costs.

Councilmember Richard Alarcon (chair of the Transportation Committee) told colleagues the city had not adjusted fares in 14 years and cited gasoline price increases as a central reason for action. He said the proposed change would amount to about an 11% increase on a typical five-mile trip and would tie future adjustments to a consumer-price measure.

The measure drew questions focused on service for seniors who use the city’s taxi scrip program. Councilmember Mike Feuer said he supported amendments to make increases “revenue neutral” for scrip participants but pressed staff and councilmembers on whether the package would actually incentivize cab drivers to accept senior calls. “We can’t have seniors fail to be served by cab drivers deeming the scrip program insufficient to make it worth their while,” Feuer said.

Councilmember S. Savornich (committee sponsor) replied that the committee added language and follow-up steps, and that a second phase of recommendations would offer additional incentives and operational changes, including more scrip for drivers to offset handling fees.

Two amendments were adopted unanimously before the ordinance vote. The council then approved the ordinance as amended by a final roll call of 13 ayes and 1 no (the transcript did not identify the dissenting member by name). Separately, the council approved a motion by Councilmember Mike Feuer requiring staff to report within 30 days on what would be needed to “sufficiently incentivize” cab drivers to pick up seniors using the scrip program; that motion passed 14–0.

Council debate also addressed service complaints in some neighborhoods, calibration and distance/time settings on taximeters, and the upcoming request for proposals (RFP) for new taxi franchises scheduled later in the year. Several members said the RFP process will allow the city to require improved tracking and response-time monitoring from companies operating under city franchises.

Votes and motions recorded in the meeting minutes matched the council’s public roll calls: two committee amendments passed unanimously; the ordinance as amended passed 13–1; and the 30-day staff report motion passed unanimously.

The ordinance language adopted changes base distance/time increments and increases fares by roughly 11% on mid-length trips while authorizing indexing of future changes to a CPI/transportation index to avoid long gaps between adjustments.

The council did not adopt an urgency clause for immediate implementation; discussion recorded that Councilmember Holden withheld on urgency earlier in the process and the final vote reflected the ordinance being set over one week for final processing.

Outcome: ordinance adopted as amended; staff directed to report in 30 days on measures to increase senior pick-up service.