National RTAP driver training: the free courses ride companies can assign and what to keep as proof

National RTAP is a federally funded training program for rural and tribal public transit, and it gives away its driver courses. A ride company can use them to add to what its brokers already require, provided it keeps proof and does not mistake a National RTAP certificate for PASS. This page lists the courses that exist in its eLearning catalog, what each one covers and how to log them.

How PASS and each broker’s course list fit together is covered in NEMT driver training. State RTAP scholarships for out-of-state classes are in PASS trainer certification.

Who runs National RTAP, and where does the money come from?

Federal transit funds pay for it. The Rural Transportation Assistance Program sits in 49 U.S.C. 5311(b)(3), the rural transit statute, which lets the Secretary of Transportation spend up to 2 percent of the rural formula funding on research, technical assistance, training and related support in rural areas. At most 15 percent of that can go to competitively selected projects of national scope, and the remainder goes to the states. National RTAP is the national share. It started on July 1, 1987, and the Neponset Valley Transportation Management Association runs it under a cooperative agreement with the Federal Transit Administration.

The state programs are separate: the national program and each state’s RTAP have no formal tie. State RTAP money often pays for training of rural and tribal transit staff. Nebraska’s transportation department, for one, opens its driver courses to drivers employed by transit agencies that get Section 5310 or 5311 money through the department, and it reimburses those agencies for the training from RTAP money.

Is National RTAP open to a private ride company?

It may be, and the way in is an organization request, not a personal sign-up. The FAQ describes the audience as rural and tribal transit agencies, with small urban and urban operators welcome. A private ride company is outside that description, so ask before you plan around it.

To try, an organization submits the agency request form with its name, address and a contact. National RTAP answers within about two business days with account details and the team’s access code. Each driver then registers with that code, and a manager can track learner progress. Hold off on registering anyone until the code arrives. Trainers for hire are listed in its Directory of Trainers, because National RTAP itself does not teach on site.

Which National RTAP courses fit a NEMT driver?

These are the eLearning catalog entries that match a ride company’s needs, grouped by topic:

• Passenger assistance and the ADA. ADA Driver Training takes about an hour and covers serving riders with disabilities safely and professionally under the ADA. It comes with a hands-on evaluation form for documenting a driver’s training, and a certificate of completion. The form says it does not satisfy federal entry-level driver training.
• Wheelchair securement and lifts. The Training Videos collection holds manufacturers’ videos and a Q’Straint and Sure-Lok securement webinar, and only the webinar gives a certificate. START Online also covers securing wheelchairs and scooters. Wheelchair lift training videos goes through what the makers publish.
• Safe driving and inspections. START Online (Safety Training and Rural Transit) runs about six hours and has three sections: vehicle safety, with pre-trip, en-route and post-trip inspections; driver safety (fitness for duty, defensive driving); and passenger safety, with picking up ambulatory and non-ambulatory riders, difficult riders, evacuation and emergencies. It has a 45-minute final exam and a certificate for each section and for the course.
• Emergencies. Emergency Procedures for Rural Transit Drivers moves from preparedness through hazards and threats to the response steps themselves, and it offers sample pre-trip inspection forms.
• Difficult riders. Problem Passengers has six lessons and a final exam. It takes 1.5 to 2 hours, passing takes 70 percent with unlimited attempts, and the certificate comes after the exam. It covers situations like angry riders, riders with dementia and service animals.
• Drug and alcohol awareness. The Substance Abuse Awareness Training Course is built around the FTA substance abuse program. Its two modules take about 90 minutes on average, and the module on prohibited drugs is timed at one hour or more.
• Refreshers. The 2 the Point series is an interim refresher, offered as cards in English and Spanish and online. It rotates through nine topics: passenger safety, transporting non-ambulatory passengers, defensive and distracted driving, bloodborne pathogens, drugs and alcohol, emergency management, customer service, and ADA and sensitivity. The online version is not built for mobile devices.
• Dispatchers. Dispatching and Scheduling Training for Rural Transit Systems is for dispatchers and schedulers in rural, small urban and tribal agencies.

The ELDT course for the passenger endorsement teaches the classroom side only, so it matters only to a driver chasing a CDL. For a state or broker list of required courses, see NEMT driver training and defensive driving courses.

What does a National RTAP certificate prove to a broker?

It proves a driver finished that course on that date, and passed its exam where one exists. It does not prove PASS, broker approval, state approval or hands-on skill with your vans. Three examples show where the line is:

• New York. The MAS network manual (version 2023-1, October 1, 2023) wants drivers to finish CTAA’s PASS within three months of the provider joining. A provider can put forward a different safety program only if MAS first rules that it matches or goes beyond PASS. A driver who misses the PASS Basic deadline is not eligible to work in the network.
• Virginia. Every driver must finish the broker’s own training program ahead of the first member, and an in-house program needs written sign-off from the broker. DMAS honors a valid PASS Basic and Securement certificate.
• Minnesota. Required courses and instructors are approved by the state, must include proficiency testing and must be taught in person unless approved otherwise in advance. An online National RTAP course would need that approval to count there.

File a National RTAP certificate as additional training. Get a broker’s yes in writing before counting one toward a requirement.

How do you log a National RTAP course in the driver file?

Keep each certificate alongside a record of the course name, date, hours and result. For each course:

1. Save the certificate the day the driver finishes and file it under the driver’s name.
2. Record the course under the exact title the catalog uses, with the date, the length and the passing score where there is one.
3. Add a hands-on check where the course allows it. For ADA Driver Training, have a supervisor complete the evaluation form after watching the driver work, and file it next to the certificate.
4. Set a refresher date of your own, or the broker’s if it names one.

Enter each course in the driver training log, and store the paperwork where the driver file checklist puts it.

Where free National RTAP training stops

National RTAP covers the transit side of driver safety, and it leaves out several things ride companies are asked for. The eLearning catalog has no first aid or CPR class and no HIPAA or fraud, waste and abuse course, although MTM Health’s Virginia handbook, for one, lists first aid, HIPAA and fraud, waste and abuse awareness among its required training. It has no PASS. Its materials assume a public transit agency, so FTA-specific content, like the Title VI and federal drug program courses, may not apply to a Medicaid ride company. And online learning does not replace practice on your own vehicle, which is why cot and lift makers, and rules such as Minnesota’s, call for hands-on work.

Tracking course dates in HealthRide

HealthRide holds each driver’s credentials with expiration dates and warns you before one lapses. Record every National RTAP course as a credential with its completion date and your own refresher date, so it sits beside CPR and license dates when you build the day. Fleet and credentials shows how the registry works, and the dispatch board is where the warnings show up at assignment.