A pilot program that allows people to hail cabs in Hollywood and downtown Los Angeles might be in for a longer ride.

City Council President Eric Garcetti, who helped launch the program in 2008, plans to introduce a motion before the end of the month that would make it permanent, said Julie Wong, a Garcetti spokeswoman.

Tom Drischler, taxicab administrator for the Los Angeles Department of Transportation, said he expects his department to recommend that the City Council make the program permanent.

While it’s not illegal to hail a cab in Los Angeles, drivers are reluctant to pick up passengers for fear of getting parking tickets, Drischler said, so cabs often don’t stop when pedestrian try to hail them. The Hail a Taxi program changed parking enforcement policy so that cabbies won’t be ticketed for pulling into red zones or unpaid metered spaces to pick up or drop off riders. Temporary signs were placed encouraging people to hail cabs.

The pilot program ended in January, but has been continued unofficially.

Because of budget cuts, the Department of Transportation couldn’t monitor the program’s success, Drischler said. But it’s believed to be a modest success in nightclub-dotted Hollywood, and has led to an uptick in cab-hailing in downtown.

“We’re thrilled,” said Kerry Morrison, executive director of the Hollywood Business Improvement District. “This is being used most significantly at night, when a lot of people come in for nightclubs and the theater and park some place and move from venue to venue. I do notice a lot more cabs at night than during the day.”