Working as an ADA paratransit contractor for a transit agency
An ADA paratransit contractor operates a transit agency's origin-to-destination service for people who cannot ride its buses or trains because of a disability. 49 CFR 37.23 holds the contractor to every ADA rule the agency itself would follow. When the agency receives Section 5307, 5309, or 5311 funds, the contractor's drivers, dispatchers, and mechanics are also covered by FTA drug and alcohol testing in 49 CFR Part 655.
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What the contractor takes on
Any public entity running fixed-route buses or rail also owes complementary paratransit to people who cannot use that system because of a disability, and it may hire a private company to run the service. The rules for who qualifies and where service runs are in our paratransit glossary entry. This guide is about the company doing the driving.
The key rule is 49 CFR 37.23. When a public entity contracts with a private company to run demand-response service, it must make sure the company meets every ADA requirement that would apply if the agency ran the service itself. Any vehicle the contractor buys for the service must be accessible whenever the agency would have to buy an accessible one. In practice, the contractor stands in the agency’s shoes for ADA purposes, and the agency remains responsible for making sure it does.
Contracts divide the work in different ways. Maple Grove’s service below is a dial-a-ride open to the general public rather than ADA paratransit, but 37.23 applies to both kinds of demand-response contract. Two real examples:
| Contract | What the agency supplies | What the contractor supplies |
|---|---|---|
| Maple Grove, Minnesota, My Ride dial-a-ride, 2025 to 2027 | The vehicles and the ride reservation phone number | Drivers, scheduling and dispatch, customer service, indoor storage, maintenance, and insurance for the city’s vehicles, and reporting |
| Access Services, Los Angeles County ADA paratransit, Northern region RFP for 2027 | Generally most of the vehicles, plus the scope of work and performance standards, backed by liquidated damages | An operating facility, staff, a written quality assurance program for operations, reservations, and dispatch, and subcontracting partners where needed to meet demand |
The Access Services board materials list limited competition, limited operating yards, and the need for proposers to build subcontracting partnerships among the challenges of its next procurement. That last point opens a door for a smaller company: running trips under a prime contractor. See subcontracting NEMT trips for how those arrangements work.
ADA rules you inherit
Paratransit riders have rights written into federal regulation, and your drivers and dispatchers carry them out on every trip.
| Rule | What it means for your crews |
|---|---|
| Origin-to-destination service (37.129) | Riders are picked up at their starting point and dropped at their destination, not at bus stops |
| Next-day service (37.131(b)) | A trip requested the day before has to be provided. The pickup time can be negotiated, but by no more than an hour either side of what the rider asked for |
| Same hours (37.131(e)) | Paratransit runs on the same days and hours as the fixed route, so crews must cover the earliest and latest runs |
| Any trip purpose (37.131(d)) | No limits or priorities based on why the rider is traveling |
| No capacity limits (37.131(f)) | No trip caps or waiting lists, and no pattern of very late pickups, trip denials, missed trips, or excessively long rides. Weather or traffic nobody could foresee does not count. |
| Wheelchairs (37.165) | Carry any chair the lift and vehicle can hold, even oversized ones. You may require securement, but you may not refuse a rider because the chair will not secure well. You may suggest a transfer to a seat but not require one. |
| Driver help (37.165(f)) | When a rider needs or requests it, staff help with belts, ramps, and lifts, getting out of their seat to do so |
| Training (37.173) | Staff must be trained to proficiency to run equipment safely and to treat riders with disabilities respectfully and courteously |
| Attendants (37.131(c)) | A rider’s personal care attendant rides free, so plan seats for them |
The capacity rule is what agencies measure you against. Late pickups, missed trips, and long rides are not just service problems. A pattern of them breaks the agency’s ADA duty, and contracts such as Maple Grove’s take money back for late and missed trips.
No-show records matter for the same reason. An agency may suspend riders who show a pattern of missed trips, but under 37.125(h) trips missed because of operator error cannot count, and riders can appeal. Log arrival times and waits accurately, and never record a no-show the driver caused. For the securement side of the job, see wheelchair securement standards.
FTA drug and alcohol testing
FTA drug and alcohol testing is a formal program with its own rules, separate from any broker’s screening requirements. 49 CFR Part 655 applies to every recipient of Section 5307, 5309, or 5311 funds and to any contractor of those recipients.
Who is covered. Anyone performing a safety-sensitive function: operating a revenue service vehicle (even when it is not carrying riders), operating a non-revenue vehicle that needs a CDL, controlling dispatch or vehicle movement, maintaining revenue vehicles, or carrying a firearm for security. Contracted maintenance is exempt for Section 5311 recipients and for Section 5307 or 5309 recipients in areas under 200,000 people. A “contractor” includes an informal but ongoing arrangement, not only a signed contract.
Which tests. The program has six kinds of testing:
- Pre-employment drug test. The applicant needs a verified negative result on file before doing any safety-sensitive work. Pre-employment alcohol testing is optional, but if you do it, you must do it for everyone.
- Reasonable suspicion, decided by trained supervisors.
- Post-accident. After a fatal accident, test the surviving operator every time. After a non-fatal accident involving a transit vehicle, test the operator unless the best information available lets you rule out their performance entirely. If an alcohol test is not given within two hours, document why. For this rule, an accident is one where a person dies, a person is taken for medical treatment off-site, or a van or car leaves on a tow truck.
- Random. Selections come without warning, are spaced across the calendar year, and fall at every time of day that covered work is done. A selected employee stops any safety-sensitive work and heads straight to the collection site.
- Return to duty, after a violation.
- Follow-up, after returning to duty.
2026 rates. In a January 15, 2026 notice, FTA left the minimums where they were: random drug tests for half of covered employees and random alcohol tests for one in ten, starting January 1, 2026. The industry’s 1.24 percent drug positive rate for 2024 kept the drug minimum from dropping.
Training and records. Covered employees need an hour or more of training on how drug use affects health and safety and the signs to watch for. Supervisors who decide reasonable suspicion cases need an hour on drug indicators plus an hour on alcohol indicators. Recipients compile an annual results summary and submit it by March 15 when FTA asks, and they are responsible for the accuracy of reports from their contractors.
Agencies pass these duties down in the contract. Maple Grove’s agreement, for example, requires the contractor to certify compliance with Parts 655 and 40 within 30 days of signing, send its annual testing summary by February 15, and document its oversight of any subcontractor’s testing program. Start from a written drug and alcohol policy that follows Part 655, not a general workplace policy.
How agencies buy the service
Agencies spending federal funds follow the procurement rules in 2 CFR 200.320. With the proposals method, the agency advertises a request for proposals that lists each evaluation factor and how much it weighs, asks multiple qualified firms to respond, scores offers under written procedures, and picks the responsible offeror whose proposal serves it best on price and the other factors.
Price is one factor among several. The scoring Access Services presented to its board for its Northern region RFP in April 2026:
| Evaluation criterion | Maximum points |
|---|---|
| Quality of technical approach | 15 |
| Quality of safety approach | 5 |
| Qualifications and availability of proposed staff | 10 |
| Quality of proposed operating facility | 5 |
| Employee pay and benefits | 20 |
| Financial qualifications | 5 |
| Paratransit operating experience | 10 |
| State-mandated bidding preference | 10 |
| Cost and price proposal | 20 |
The same presentation laid out the timeline: the RFP in May 2026, proposals due August 25, 2026, best and final offers in October, a board decision in December, a start-up period from February 1, 2027, and full service from August 1, 2027. Budget for a start-up period of months, not weeks, between award and the first trip. The new scope adds a written quality assurance program for operations, reservations, and dispatch, vehicle-specific driver training, updated IT requirements, and new performance standards with liquidated damages.
Contract terms run long. The Access Services contract for its Santa Clarita region had a base term of three years and eleven months plus three two-year options, and Maple Grove’s runs three years with an optional fourth.
Labor protections come with federal transit money. Under 49 U.S.C. 5333(b), often called section 13(c), FTA grants carry arrangements the Secretary of Labor finds fair to protect employees affected by the assistance, including collective bargaining rights and priority for reemployment. When one private bus service contractor replaces another through competitive bidding, the Labor Department applies the principles of its September 21, 1994 decision on grant NV-90-X021. Ask at the pre-proposal meeting how the agency’s arrangements treat the incumbent contractor’s workers, because the answer shapes your staffing plan and your labor cost.
For registration, vendor lists, and capability statements, see finding and bidding on government contracts.
How contracts pay
The contracts below pay a mix of a fixed amount and a rate per hour or per trip. The fixed part covers overhead such as the call center, dispatch, and supervision. The variable part moves with the service you run.
Know the hour you are paid for. Maple Grove pays by the NTD revenue hour, which starts at the first scheduled pickup of a continuous block of trips and ends at its last scheduled drop-off. Inspections, fueling, the drive out of and back to the garage, and repositioning are unpaid. That time is your deadhead, and it belongs in your hourly rate.
Three real examples show the range of structures:
| Contract | Fixed | Variable | Other terms |
|---|---|---|---|
| Maple Grove, Minnesota, dial-a-ride, 2026 | $40,123.19 a month | $52.79 per revenue hour | Plus the invoiced value of fuel used, minus the fares the contractor is obligated to collect. The city supplies the vehicles. |
| Access Services, Santa Clarita region, where the City of Santa Clarita is the contractor, July 2026 to June 2027 | $54,673.98 a month | $55.80 per trip | $13.78 per revenue hour for fuel, gasoline vehicles only |
| Sonoma County paratransit, current operator, FY 2026 projection | $970,309 a year for call center, dispatch, and supervision, net of fares | $1,738,843 for 47,112 paid in-service hours ($36.91 an hour) | $318,814 insurance. Fully allocated: $61.03 per in-service hour across 49,612 hours (2,500 of them volunteer), without vehicle maintenance. |
Late and missed trips cost money. Maple Grove counts a demand-response trip that arrives more than 50 minutes past its scheduled time as a total missed trip and credits the city the trip’s scheduled hours at the contract rate. A trip more than 40 minutes late is a partial missed trip, credited for the late time.
The agency watches cost per trip. On an hourly contract, the agency’s cost per trip is the hourly rate divided by the trips carried in that hour. As an example, at $52.79 an hour, a van carrying two trips an hour costs the agency about $26.40 per trip, and one carrying 1.5 costs about $35.19. Your monthly reports show ridership and service hours, so track trips per hour and revenue per vehicle hour from the first week.
Invoices follow a fixed cycle. Maple Grove wants the monthly report within 15 days and the invoice within 10 days of the month’s end, and the city pays within 45 calendar days of receiving a satisfactory invoice. Missing reports hold up payment.
Performance standards and reporting
Agencies write performance standards into the contract. The standards Access Services reported to its board for its Santa Clarita contract in April 2026:
| Area | What the agency counts | Target |
|---|---|---|
| Timeliness | On-time performance | At least 91% |
| Timeliness | Share of trips that are excessively late | At most 0.10% |
| Ride length | Share of trips with an excessively long ride | At most 5% |
| Reliability | Share of trips missed | At most 0.75% |
| Reliability | Trips denied | Zero |
| Phones | Average wait on the reservations line | 2 minutes or less |
| Phones | Reservations calls left on hold past 5 minutes | At most 5% |
| Phones | ETA calls left on hold past 5 minutes | At most 10% |
| Riders | Complaints per 1,000 trips | 4.0 or fewer |
| Safety | Preventable incidents per 100,000 miles | 0.25 or fewer |
| Safety | Preventable collisions per 100,000 miles | 0.85 or fewer |
| Fleet | Average miles between major mechanical failures | At least 50,000 |
Compare those with your current numbers before you bid. Our guide to on-time performance covers how to measure it consistently, and missed trips explains how brokers and agencies count them.
Reporting is monthly and detailed. Maple Grove’s contractor reports daily ridership, fare revenue by payment method and fare type, missed trips and credits, delays, accidents, breakdowns, maintenance and repairs, service hours and miles, and miles driven out of service. Serious accidents are reported to the city at the first opportunity, and any incident affecting service gets a written report by email within 24 hours. Agencies that receive Section 5307 or 5311 funds also report to the National Transit Database under 49 CFR Part 630, and the service you run is part of what they report.
Is paratransit work a fit
Paratransit contracting rewards a company that already runs tight dispatch and clean records, but it differs from Medicaid NEMT in ways that matter:
- The agency is the customer. You are paid monthly on the contract’s terms, not per claim.
- Any trip purpose counts. Riders travel to work, shopping, and visits as well as appointments.
- Compliance is heavier. FTA testing, labor protections, and detailed monthly reporting come with the money.
- Start small if you are new to transit. A subcontract under a prime contractor, or a smaller agency’s service, builds the record that larger RFPs score under operating experience.
Showing the agency your numbers
Agencies score contractors on on-time performance, missed trips, and records they can check. HealthRide’s reports include on-time performance, and the trip log exports to CSV or PDF with GPS-recorded miles and the times of every pickup and drop-off. The live map shows every vehicle in real time, so dispatchers see a late pickup coming before it becomes a missed trip.
Frequently asked questions
- Do FTA drug and alcohol rules apply if I subcontract for the prime contractor?
- Yes, when the transit agency receives Section 5307, 5309, or 5311 funds. Part 655 covers any contractor of a recipient, and it defines a contractor as anyone providing a safety-sensitive service for a recipient, an employer, or an operator under a written contract or an ongoing informal arrangement. A subcontractor driving paratransit trips for the prime contractor is covered, so its drivers and dispatchers must be in a compliant testing program.
- How many FTA-covered workers must be randomly tested in 2026?
- FTA's 2026 minimums call for random drug tests equal to half of covered employees and random alcohol tests equal to one in ten, starting January 1, 2026. The drug minimum could only fall to 25 percent after two straight years of industry positives below 1.0 percent, and the rate was 1.24 percent in 2024 and 1.23 percent in 2023. Selections must come without warning, be spaced across the calendar year, and cover every time of day that covered work is done.
- Are dispatchers covered by FTA drug testing?
- Yes. Under 49 CFR 655.4, directing where and when revenue vehicles move is a safety-sensitive function, just like driving them. Mechanics who maintain revenue vehicles are covered too, except when they work for a contractor of a Section 5311 recipient or of a Section 5307 or 5309 recipient in an area under 200,000 people.
- Can a paratransit driver refuse a wheelchair that will not secure well?
- No. Under 49 CFR 37.165, a transit provider cannot turn away a wheelchair user on the ground that the chair will not stay put in the vehicle's securement system. The only grounds to decline are a combined chair and rider weight above the lift's rating or a demonstrated conflict with legitimate safety requirements. When a rider needs or asks for help with the belts, ramp, or lift, the driver gives it, getting out of the seat if that is what it takes.
- What counts as a revenue hour on a paratransit contract?
- The contract defines it, so read that definition before you price. Maple Grove, Minnesota's 2025 to 2027 agreement counts an NTD revenue hour from the first scheduled pickup of a continuous run of trips to the last scheduled drop-off, including layover between trips. Pre-trip inspection, fueling, the drive out of the garage before the first pickup and back after the last drop-off, and repositioning between runs are left out.
- Does a trip the driver misses count as a rider no-show?
- It must not. ADA rules let an agency suspend riders who show a pattern of missing scheduled trips, but trips missed for reasons beyond the rider's control, including operator error, cannot count toward that pattern. That makes accurate arrival times and no-show records part of the contractor's job, since riders can appeal a suspension.
