PASS trainer certification for NEMT companies: running your own driver classes

When an in-house trainer pays off

A certified PASS trainer pays off once you train more than a handful of wheelchair drivers a year, or once waiting for outside classes starts keeping new hires off the road. The seat in a Train-the-Trainer class is a one-time cost for three years. After that, each driver you train costs the CTAA materials fee plus your trainer’s time, instead of a seat in someone else’s class.

Here is the arithmetic with real prices, as an example. Cascades West Council of Governments in Albany, Oregon charges $192 for its PASS class. A non-member company with its own trainer pays CTAA $55 per driver for materials. The $137 difference covers a $750 non-member trainer seat by the sixth driver. That leaves out the trainer’s wages for a two-day class and the van sitting in the lot during the securement practice, so count those before you decide.

Timing matters as much as price. Oregon’s rule for coordinated care NEMT (OAR 410-141-3925) gives a new driver three months from hire to finish the Passenger Service and Safety course or an equivalent, and requires a retake at least every three years. Open card subcontractor drivers get six months under OAR 410-136-3040, with the same three-year cycle. With your own trainer, a new hire’s securement class happens the week they start instead of on the next date a training center has open. Our driver training guide covers the full course stack around PASS.

What a certified trainer may teach

A PASS Trainer runs two kinds of driver classes, both using CTAA’s copyrighted materials:

• The two-day PASS Classroom. Safety and sensitivity plus wheelchair securement, taught in person. Drivers who finish get a PASS Wheelchair Certificate. No separate PASS Basic certificate is issued for this class.
• The half-day Wheelchair Securement class. For drivers who already hold a PASS Basic certificate from the online course. It has to happen within 90 days of that online certificate, and it gives a wheelchair certification equal to the two-day class.

The trainer orders testing materials from CTAA for each class and arranges a lift or ramp vehicle for boarding practice. CTAA still issues every certificate, and a certificate counts only if the trainer used CTAA’s materials. Drivers’ PASS recognition lasts two years.

PASS stops at the passenger. CTAA’s handbook is explicit that PASS skips CPR, first aid, and defensive driving, so a PASS Trainer certificate gives no authority to teach them. Plan separate courses or instructors for them, such as a defensive driving course from an authorized provider.

Choosing who becomes the trainer

CTAA’s qualifications for a PASS Trainer are short. The person has to meet the federal and state qualifications to work as a vehicle operator where they are, be chosen for the role by the employer (or choose it themselves), complete PASS Basic Online and Techniques for Training PASS, finish a Train-the-Trainer workshop, and show proficiency at wheelchair securement and at teaching.

In a small company that usually points to a lead driver or an operations manager who already does ride-alongs. Pick someone you expect to keep for the full three years, because the certificate belongs to the person and leaves with them. You can tie the class fee to a written repayment agreement; our guide to training repayment agreements explains where those hold up.

The path to certification

CTAA’s current virtual Train-the-Trainer listings run in this order:

1. Register for a class date. CTAA’s fall 2026 calendar lists a virtual Train-the-Trainer session almost every week from October through December 16. Sessions last a full day, 9 to 5 Eastern time.
2. Finish two online prerequisites. PASS Basic 8.0 (a four-hour self-paced course) and Techniques for Training PASS (a two-hour course). CTAA emails the links after you register and tells you not to buy them separately.
3. Attend the class. The virtual listings describe a one-day Zoom course. CTAA also offers a two-day in-person Train-the-Trainer from time to time, taught by a PASS Master Trainer.
4. Do the one-on-one session. On a separate date, the trainee demonstrates wheelchair securement and lift operation for the Master Trainer, using the equipment at the trainee’s own site.
5. Pass the exam. The PASS Trainer exam has 50 questions, and every PASS test requires a score of at least 80 percent.

The fee includes the trainer manual, the video presentation content, and the certificate. Cancel five or more business days ahead. A later cancellation or a no-show is charged the full fee, with no credit toward another date.

What it costs

The costs come in four pieces, and CTAA members pay less for each one. This table uses CTAA’s posted prices.

The closed-class price is CTAA’s all-inclusive rate for state, local, and community transit organizations that sponsor a workshop, and CTAA says closed classes may be requested by local, regional, or state agencies. It covers the Master Trainer’s travel and the workshop materials. The sponsor provides the room, a wheelchair, a vehicle with a lift, and the audiovisual setup. If a transit agency or state association near you hosts one, ask whether outside providers can buy seats.

Membership can pay for itself. CTAA’s NEMT category bases dues on the number of vehicles in revenue service, starting at $500 for a company with 0 to 10 vehicles. A member saves $150 on the trainer seat and $20 on materials for each driver, so the savings pass the $500 in dues at the 18th driver trained while you are a member. If those drivers also take PASS Basic Online first, they save $27 more each, and the break-even comes at the 8th driver.

Renewing every three years

Trainer certification lasts three years. To renew online, the trainer has to hold a current certificate and pay CTAA’s recertification fee. The renewal means retaking the 50-question trainer exam, then reviewing the securement procedure and passing a 20-question wheelchair securement exam.

There is a 90-day grace period after a certificate expires. Once 90 days have passed, CTAA no longer allows renewal, and a new Train-the-Trainer seat is the only way back. Put the trainer’s expiration date on the same calendar as the drivers’ two-year PASS dates, and track the stricter of CTAA’s validity period and your state’s retraining rule. The driver training log template tracks each of these dates.

State programs and brokers that change the math

Before paying for a trainer, see what your state program and brokers already offer.

• Virginia. MTM Health, which now handles Virginia’s fee-for-service Medicaid trips, has every driver finish PASS Basic online before its in-person Driver Training, and requires PASS training for every driver of a provider that runs wheelchair trips. DMAS honors an unexpired PASS Basic and securement certification uploaded to MTM Link. Every vehicle operator still attends MTM’s in-person Driver Training, a six-hour session with securement practice that costs providers nothing. See the Virginia guide for the rest of that state’s rules.
• Oregon. The three-month and six-month deadlines above make an in-house trainer more useful, as long as your brokerage accepts PASS as the equivalent course, since a new driver cannot wait long for a class. CareOregon’s provider manual lets sedan-only drivers take the ambulatory-only version of the course, so only your wheelchair van drivers need the securement class. Details are in the Oregon guide.
• State RTAP scholarships. Every state has a Rural Transit Assistance Program manager, funded through the federal Section 5311 rural transit program, and many use the money for training scholarships. For out-of-state training, Oregon’s scholarship procedure typically pays up to $5,000 per applicant a calendar year, capped at 80 percent of the cost. It gives priority to systems funded through ODOT’s Public Transportation Division, first to Section 5311 recipients, and pays the agency rather than the person. A private NEMT company should ask its state RTAP manager whether it qualifies before counting on that money.

Keeping trainer and driver dates in HealthRide

A trainer program runs on dates: the trainer’s three-year certificate, each driver’s two-year PASS card, and your state’s retraining clock. In HealthRide, certifications for drivers sit in one credential registry with their expiration dates. HealthRide sends reminders before one lapses and flags anything expired when you assign a trip, so a lapsed securement card gets noticed before a wheelchair ride goes out.