TANF transportation assistance: how county work programs buy rides, and how a ride company gets paid

TANF transportation assistance is a county or state human services office paying for a family’s rides to work, training, job search or child care. The money is federal Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) funding that the state directs. A ride company gets paid when the office contracts for rides, refers each rider with an authorization, and pays a monthly invoice. This is a different payer from the Medicaid rides covered in how to bill Medicaid for NEMT, and it sits inside the wider group of agency-funded rides described in human service transportation.

What does TANF transportation assistance cover?

It covers rides that help a family get, keep or move up in a job, and federal rules treat it as a supportive service. The federal reporting instructions (ACF-196R) define a category called work supports as transportation benefits, such as allowances, bus tokens, car payments, auto repair, auto insurance reimbursement and van services, that help families obtain, retain or advance in employment, take part in other work activities, or get a short-term benefit. In fiscal year 2024, states spent $479 million of federal and state TANF funds on work supports, about 1.3 percent of the $37.5 billion total, according to ACF’s national summary. That is a small share of all TANF spending.

Federal rules sort TANF-funded rides by the family’s situation. Under 45 CFR 260.31:

• Transportation for families who are not employed counts as TANF “assistance,” unless it is a short-term benefit.
• Transportation for employed families is excluded from “assistance.”
• A short-term benefit that deals with a specific crisis, is not meant to meet ongoing needs and does not extend beyond four months is also excluded.

Four months also appears in a real county contract. Fayette County, Ohio’s request for 2027 describes its TANF rides as door-to-door transportation for TANF-eligible people to an employment or training site, a child care provider or a caseworker appointment for up to four months.

Who decides what gets paid for?

States choose, and some pass the work to counties. Federal rules let a state spend TANF funds on expenditures reasonably calculated to meet one of the program’s four purposes (45 CFR 263.11 and 260.20), so rates, forms and provider lists vary by state and county. Each state names its own program: Ohio Works First, the Alabama Family Assistance Program and the Iowa Family Investment Program are three examples on ACF’s contact page.

Ohio shows how the pieces fit together. Its state plan says state law requires every board of county commissioners to write a transportation plan on the needs of low-income residents seeking or keeping employment. The law is Ohio Revised Code 307.985, and it makes the board consult the county job and family services department, the regional transit authority if one serves the county, a community action agency if one does, and representatives of nonprofit and government groups working on economic development, employment and people with physical disabilities. Those are the people to know. Alabama works differently: its state Department of Human Resources issued one request for the Jefferson County area in 2022, after noting that each of its 67 counties has an office that needs to move clients to work activities.

How do counties buy the rides?

They buy them three ways, and a ride company competes with the other two.

• A ride contract. Delaware County, Ohio’s Department of Job and Family Services asked for one provider of curb-to-curb rides, with wheelchair service, for low-income clients going to employment, medical appointments, child care and other social service programs. It budgeted up to $300,000 a year and counted 479 one-way trips a month in 2024, about 11 miles each.
• A contract with the local transit agency. The same Delaware County office signed its 2025 transportation contract with the Delaware County Transit Board, for July 1, 2025 to June 30, 2026, with two possible one-year extensions. A transit agency can win these contracts, so private bidders may compete against a public operator.
• Prepaid fuel. Richland County, Ohio’s job and family services office asked for prepaid fuel in 2024 to hand to clients in its TANF, work training, food assistance training and Medicaid ride programs. The prepaid fuel had to be for vehicle fuel only, could not be redeemed for cash and could not expire. A rider with a car and no gas needs no ride company.

What does a county ask of a ride company?

A county asks for referrals, trip records and invoices in its own format, and it prices rides in its own units. Three contracts, from three agencies, show the range:

Around those numbers sit the terms that decide whether the work is worth taking:

• Referral. Delaware County sends a trip authorization as a PDF by encrypted email, the provider replies to confirm, and the rider then calls to schedule. Alabama required a written referral certifying each rider’s eligibility.
• Trip record. Delaware’s sign-off form has the rider’s name, date, origin, destinations, drive time, drive distance, wait times, a no-show mark, special needs and the rider’s signature. Alabama asked vendors to tell the county within one day when a rider did not appear.
• Invoices. Delaware’s are due within 30 days after the service month, with reductions for late ones. Fayette pays on a cost-reimbursement basis, with documents reviewed by the agency, the county commissioners and the county auditor before payment.
• Insurance and vetting. Delaware wants $1 million per occurrence and $2 million aggregate general liability, $1 million auto liability and a $2 million umbrella, which it waives for higher primary limits. Fayette asks for liability limits of $2 million or more. Alabama asked for vendors to be on its Public Service Commission roster of approved intrastate providers.
• Ohio’s vendor rule. Fayette points proposers to Ohio’s Medicaid rule for county ride contracts, Administrative Code 5160-15-14. It requires valid driver’s licenses, a certified driving record, a criminal background check and clear federal exclusion searches before a county can hold a contract with a private ride company.

Some states make a county owe interest when it pays late, covered in local government prompt payment laws.

Why is it a different payer from Medicaid and the Social Services Block Grant?

Each ride is paid by one program, and the contract bars billing it twice. TANF pays for the work, training and child care trips described above. A Medicaid ride to covered care goes through the state’s medical transportation program with its own authorization, codes and vendor rules, and a county can serve both from one contract. Delaware’s contract lists four funding streams: Medicaid, TANF, Title XX and a food assistance employment and training program. It also bars a provider from charging a cost to any other federal or state program, and from sending duplicate claims.

Title XX is the Social Services Block Grant, another federal source that Delaware’s contract names for its rides (listed there as 93.667). It has its own page: Social Services Block Grant.

How do you find the county contact and get on the list?

Start with the state agency’s local office, then ask for the procurement contact.

1. Find the state program and the local office. ACF’s Help for Families page lists each state’s agency, its TANF program name and a link to local offices.
2. Ask for the transportation or purchasing contact, not the caseworker line. Counties that buy rides publish requests for proposals, and the format varies. Delaware’s took proposals by email. Fayette County’s request for 2027 took hard copy only, one original and two copies, by 4:00 p.m. on October 12, 2026.
3. Check the bid page. Delaware’s proposals were due in April 2025 for a contract starting July 1, 2025. Fayette’s, due October 12, 2026, is for a contract starting January 1, 2027.
4. Ask who the county consulted for its transportation plan, if your state has a plan requirement like Ohio’s. Transit agencies and community action agencies are consulted where the county has them.
5. Quote in the county’s units. A per-trip price, a loaded-mile rate and a banded price are different bids, so match the unit the request uses.

Keeping county rides organized in HealthRide

A county wants a trip record for each rider and one invoice a month. Weekday rides to a job or training site can be scheduled once as recurring trips in HealthRide. Every completed trip is logged with its pickup and drop-off times, GPS-recorded miles, any recorded wait on a no-show and the signature the rider gives on screen. The monthly invoice is built from those trips at your rates, so it can match the log the county asks to see. See recurring trips and invoicing.