LADOT reports advertising revenue; new contract to add electric vehicle inventory

LADOT staff updated the joint special committees on the transit-vehicle advertising program and the department’s solicitation for a new contract.

Diana Smith, identified as supervisor of transit operations, said the prior contract expired in 2025 and the department is finalizing a new contract with the same vendor selected through an RFP. Smith told the committees the new contract will allow advertising on electric vehicles and add inventory that did not exist previously.

Smith said the department collected more than $400,000 in advertising revenue in the reporting period and that about $97,000 of the city’s portion had been received to date. Smith described a current inventory of ad-capable vehicles as ‘‘79 and 96’’ (numbers given in the presentation) and said the program’s revenues dropped from a pre-pandemic peak. She told members the vendor handles sales and remits the city’s 60 percent share to LADOT’s account; those funds are used for Proposition A eligible operations.

Committee members asked operational questions about contract term, inventory and revenue-sizing; Smith said the vendor handles sales and that LADOT retains standard content and procurement controls. The chair asked whether there were objections to filing the report; the roll call recorded affirmative votes and the motion to file the LADOT report was approved.

Why it matters: The advertising program generates operating revenue that supports transit operations and the new contract could expand inventory to electric vehicles, potentially increasing future revenue streams. The committee’s action was to file the report; no new contract was signed at the meeting.