Los Angeles council committees are scheduled to consider a draft ordinance September 8 that would raise the annual permit fee for shared-mobility providers from $20,000 to $150,000 and increase the city's four per-trip charges.

The proposal applies to companies permitted to provide shared scooters, electric bicycles, and similar devices in Los Angeles. It does not change what a provider owes today. The City Clerk record lists the measure as pending in committee, and the transmitted ordinance remains a draft without an ordinance number, passage date, or effective date.

The Public Works and Transportation Committees are scheduled to consider the measure jointly. Approval there would not by itself put the rates into effect. The ordinance would still need the required city action, publication, and effective-date process before the new schedule could replace the current one.

The proposed fee schedule

The draft ordinance would replace the current $20,000 annual provider fee with a $150,000 annual permit fee per provider. That is seven and a half times the current charge.

It would also set these per-trip fees, based on the geographic areas defined in the program rules:

  • Equity-Focused Mobility Development District: $0.20 per trip, up from $0.
  • Mobility Development District: $0.48 per trip, up from $0.06.
  • Standard Permitted District: $0.32 per trip, up from $0.20.
  • Special Operation Zone: $1.54 per trip, up from $0.40.

The City Administrative Officer estimates that four providers will apply for or renew a permit in fiscal year 2026-27. Its analysis says the $150,000 charge would recover about 20 percent of the estimated program cost through permit fees, compared with about 3 percent under the current charge.

The proposed rates are provider fees. The official documents do not direct companies to pass them through to riders, and Federal Weekly is not treating the per-trip amounts as a forecast of any consumer price change.

Why Los Angeles is considering the increase

The City Administrative Officer reported that the program generated $583,214 in special-fund revenue during fiscal year 2024-25, about 20 percent of an approximately $2.9 million program cost. The office says the permit and trip fees support permitting, data systems, monitoring, investigations, field enforcement, complaint handling, and other administration.

Under the revised schedule, the city estimates $2,127,000 in additional fiscal year 2026-27 revenue. The analysis projects that the fees would cover the program's costs except for a $211,950 General Fund subsidy associated with the equity-focused district.

The city also identified a possible market effect. The administrative analysis says the larger fixed permit fee could price smaller providers out of entering Los Angeles. The committees previously asked city staff to study a future tiered permit structure based on provider size, but the draft now scheduled for consideration uses one $150,000 annual fee for each provider.

What the current draft does not include

An earlier Los Angeles Department of Transportation report also proposed a $20,000 administrative citation for unpermitted operators and authority for designated city employees to impound shared devices. Those provisions are not in the two-section August 26 fee ordinance now attached to the Council File.

The current draft changes only the fee schedule in Los Angeles Municipal Code Section 71.29.1(a) and directs the City Clerk to certify and publish the ordinance after passage. The record does not establish that the earlier penalty and impound ideas have been adopted through this draft.

No effective date is set yet

The draft does not state a special effective date, and the City Clerk record does not list one. Operators should not budget from a guessed start date or assume that committee consideration makes the rates final.

The City Attorney also advised that the proposed fee increase requires a public hearing and newspaper notice under state law before adoption. That process, the committee recommendation, any Council action, and the final posted ordinance will determine whether and when the schedule changes.

The September 8 committee date is listed on Federal Weekly's compliance calendar, and the proposal is recorded in the Business Rule Change Tracker.

The practical takeaway

A shared-mobility provider operating or considering entry in Los Angeles should model the proposed $150,000 fixed annual fee separately from the trip fees expected in each operating area. The mix of trips among the four program geographies could materially change the total exposure.

Providers should review the draft attached to Council File 17-1125, follow the September 8 committee action, and confirm any later Council amendments before changing a budget or pricing plan. Until the city posts a passed ordinance and an effective date, the $20,000 permit fee and existing trip-fee schedule remain the current rates.