Driving-time limits for NEMT drivers: the federal hours-of-service rule and state versions

Who the limits actually cover

Federal hours-of-service limits apply to a NEMT driver only when two conditions meet: a commercial motor vehicle, on an interstate trip. Most NEMT fleets run sedans, minivans, and converted vans on trips that never leave the state, so most NEMT drivers fall outside the federal rule. Their hours are governed by state law, broker contracts, and whatever limits the company sets.

For passenger service, 49 CFR 390.5T makes a vehicle commercial on an interstate trip when it:

• was built for, or actually carries, more than 8 people (driver counted) on paid trips;
• carries more than 15 people, driver included, without compensation; or
• weighs, or carries a weight rating of, 10,001 pounds or more (whichever figure is higher).

The interstate test is wider than it sounds. A trip counts when it runs between two states, when it runs between two points in one state by way of another state, and when an in-state leg is part of a trip that begins or ends out of state. A ride from a rural town to a hospital across the state line is interstate. So is a ride between two towns in your state if the best route cuts through a neighboring one.

A few interstate trips can bring the whole roster under the rules. FMCSA’s own reading of its passenger rules, published as Appendix A to part 390, relies on a Supreme Court case in which interstate work made up just 3 to 4 percent of a carrier’s trips, yet the federal hours rules reached every driver because any of them could be assigned one. The same appendix says FMCSA’s authority over the carrier, its vans, and its drivers runs for 4 months past the last interstate run.

Two federal exceptions come up in NEMT. The first, in 390.3T(f)(4), covers “the transportation of human corpses or sick and injured persons.” Nothing in the regulation says whether a scheduled NEMT rider fits that phrase, so get a written answer from FMCSA before building a schedule around it. The second, in 390.3T(f)(6), excludes a vehicle seating 9 to 15, driver included, when it does not carry passengers for direct compensation. Direct compensation means payment by the passengers, or by someone acting on their behalf, and Appendix A treats a specific fee for the ride as direct, so a paid ride service rarely fits it. The 16-passenger CDL threshold also applies on in-state trips, because the CDL rules in 49 CFR part 383 cover intrastate commerce. The USDOT number guide walks through the rest of the federal package that comes with interstate work.

The federal limits for passenger drivers

A driver of a passenger-carrying commercial motor vehicle follows 49 CFR 395.5, not the truck rule most people know. The numbers differ from the property-carrying limits in 395.3.

Two relief valves apply to both. A driver who meets adverse driving conditions (snow, ice, fog, or unusual road or traffic conditions that were not known before the day began) may drive up to 2 extra hours to complete the run or get to a place of safety (395.1(b)(1)). In an emergency, a driver may finish a run that could reasonably have been completed without the emergency (395.1(b)(2)).

A driver found over the limits on a roadside check is placed out of service until enough off-duty time has passed to drive legally again (395.13).

The 15-hour limit counts on-duty hours, not the clock

The passenger rule ends driving once a driver has logged 15 on-duty hours. It does not stop the clock 15 hours after the shift begins, which is how the property rule works. Off-duty time in the middle of the day does not count toward the 15, so a genuine split shift can run past 15 hours from first clock-in to last drop-off.

An example, for illustration: a driver starts at 5:30 a.m., runs dialysis and early appointment trips until 10:30 a.m., is released and goes home until 1:30 p.m., then works until 8:00 p.m. That is 11.5 hours on duty and 14.5 hours from start to finish. It stays within the 15-hour limit only if the midday gap was truly off duty.

What counts as on duty

The definition in 395.2 is broad. The on-duty clock starts when a driver begins working or has to be available, and it stops only once the carrier releases the driver from every duty. The list covers:

• time at a facility or on public property until the next dispatch, unless the carrier has relieved the driver;
• inspecting, servicing, or conditioning the vehicle, including the pre-trip check;
• all driving time;
• loading and unloading, and standing by ready to drive (for a NEMT driver, count boarding riders and securing wheelchairs here);
• repairing or waiting with a broken-down vehicle;
• travel to and time at a random, post-crash, or follow-up drug or alcohol test the carrier directs;
• any other work for the carrier, such as office or dispatch shifts;
• any paid work for an employer that is not a motor carrier.

The last item catches part-time drivers. Hours at a second job count toward the 15-hour and weekly limits when the federal rule covers the driver.

Logs, electronic logging devices, and the short-haul exception

A driver under part 395 records duty status every day, generally on an electronic logging device (395.8(a)). Paper logs are the exception: a driver who needs a log on 8 or fewer days of any 30, a vehicle made before model year 2000, and two vehicle-delivery cases. Logs and the records behind them stay on file for 6 months or more (395.8(k)).

Local NEMT work usually fits the short-haul exception in 395.1(e)(1), which replaces logs with time records when the driver:

1. works inside a 150 air-mile radius (172.6 statute miles) around the place they normally report;
2. comes back there and is released no more than 14 hours after starting;
3. takes an off-duty break of 8 hours or more in a row between duty periods of up to 14 hours.

The carrier then keeps, for 6 months, each driver’s reporting time, total on-duty hours for each day, and release time. For a driver used for the first time or only now and then, it also keeps the total time on duty for the preceding 7 days, which 395.8(j)(2) requires as a signed statement from the driver. A day that breaks the 150-mile or 14-hour condition needs a log for that day, which is where the 8-days-in-30 paper log option usually helps.

Short-haul relief removes the logbook, not the limits. The 10-hour, 15-hour, and weekly caps still apply.

State limits for trips inside one state

States set the rules for intrastate trips. Some adopt the federal rule outright, some adopt it with changes, and some write their own. Four examples, each from the state’s own text:

Florida’s rule also shows the arithmetic in its own examples: a driver who drives 4 a.m. to 8 a.m. and again from 3 p.m. to 11 p.m. has used 12 hours of driving and cannot drive again before 7 a.m.

For other states, start with the state’s motor carrier safety rules, usually kept by the state police, the department of transportation, or the utility commission, and look for the definition of a covered passenger vehicle and any intrastate changes to part 395. The state guides cover each state’s provider rules.

Broker and payer rules on driver hours

Broker rules touch driver hours in two ways: record-keeping and trip handling. Medi Trans, the NEMT broker for Louisiana Healthcare Connections, requires providers to keep, for at least 10 years, a record of each driver’s duty status showing total days worked, on-duty hours, driving hours, and the times the driver reported on and off duty (NEMT Operations Manual, last revised February 20, 2025).

Other contracts treat hours as a reason to hand work back. CareOregon’s transportation provider manual (version 1.3, February 2024) accepts a driver’s schedule as a reason to return a trip for reassignment, for example when the shift ends before the ride would. A driver past a safe limit is a reason to call the broker early, not to push through.

One federal rule reaches past the hour counts. Under 49 CFR 392.3, no carrier may require or permit a driver to operate a commercial motor vehicle when fatigue or illness has impaired, or is likely to impair, the driver’s alertness enough to make driving unsafe. The guide to driver fatigue covers shift patterns and warning signs.

Setting a company limit

Where no rule reaches your vans, set a limit anyway and write it into your driver policy. Using the federal passenger numbers for every driver is a simple choice: it keeps the whole roster on one rule, and it means a van that starts crossing state lines needs no new habits.

A workable policy covers:

• Daily caps. Maximum driving hours and maximum on-duty hours per day, and what counts as off duty during a split.
• Rest between shifts. An unbroken 8 hours or more off before the next shift, planned so the commute and sleep both fit.
• Breaks. When a meal break falls in a long shift, and whether a state wage law already sets one.
• Weekly caps. A 60-hour ceiling, or 70 if the company runs seven days a week.
• Outside work. A duty to report hours at other jobs.
• Records. Clock-in and clock-out times kept for at least 6 months, longer if a broker asks.
• Overruns. Who the driver calls when a late will-call or a breakdown would push past the limit.

Build shifts to fit the caps rather than checking them after the fact. The guide to driver shifts covers building shifts around demand, and driver timekeeping covers the clock-in records that show whether the limits held.

Tracking hours in HealthRide

HealthRide builds each driver’s timecard from real clock-ins in the driver app, and weekly shift patterns mean a regular schedule is entered only once. For any week, the driver and timecard reports give you each driver’s hours and miles in one export. That makes it quick to compare every driver’s days with your limits before the next schedule goes out.