rabbittransit provider guide: MATP rides in central Pennsylvania
rabbittransit, the Susquehanna Regional Transportation Authority, administers the Medical Assistance Transportation Program in Adams, Columbia, Cumberland, Dauphin, Franklin, Montour, Northumberland, Perry, Snyder, Union, and York counties, plus Indiana and Cambria. Transportation companies get its trips by winning a subcontract in a public procurement posted on PennBid, after securing a PUC certificate and the three DHS clearances every MATP driver needs.
On this page
Who rabbittransit is
rabbittransit is the trade name of the Susquehanna Regional Transportation Authority (SRTA), a public authority formed under Pennsylvania’s Municipal Authorities Act of 1945. It runs fixed routes, commuter buses, and shared-ride service in Adams, Columbia, Cumberland, Dauphin, Franklin, Montour, Northumberland, Perry, Snyder, Union, and York counties and the City of Harrisburg. Shared ride is its origin-to-destination service. One vehicle can carry riders from several programs at once: the Medical Assistance Transportation Program (MATP), Senior Shared Ride, ADA complementary paratransit, and Persons with Disabilities.
Pennsylvania has no statewide Medicaid broker. DHS funds MATP county by county, and each county runs it, hires a vendor, or lets DHS sign a direct agreement with a transit agency. Only Philadelphia uses a broker. rabbittransit holds one of the two direct MATP agreements DHS has signed, and each of them covers several counties. The same county-run approach is set against broker states in how states run NEMT. Wherever rabbittransit is the administrator, it fills the broker’s role for a transportation company: it takes requests, chooses the least costly mode, and pays the operators.
| County | rabbittransit’s role | Who schedules and drives |
|---|---|---|
| Adams, Columbia, Cumberland, Franklin, Montour, Northumberland, Perry, Snyder, Union, York | MATP administrator | rabbittransit’s call center, its own operators, and subcontractors |
| Dauphin | Administrator since July 1, 2026, replacing the Center for Community Building | rabbittransit, keeping the existing transportation providers |
| Indiana | Administrator since January 1, 2020 | IndiGO schedules and runs most trips |
| Cambria | Administrator since April 1, 2025 | CamTran books and runs trips with its own contracted providers |
Every other county has its own MATP office, listed in the Pennsylvania NEMT guide.
How transportation companies get rabbittransit work
rabbittransit hires outside operators through public procurement, not an open enrollment form. It tells riders that subcontractors provide part of its shared-ride service, so a rider may be picked up in a taxi, minivan, van, or bus that shows the operator’s name instead of rabbittransit’s. Subcontractors may even use school buses.
Solicitations go out as requests for proposals (RFP), invitations for bids (IFB), or requests for quotations (RFQ), depending on what is being bought. Current solicitations run entirely on PennBid, from documents and questions to addenda and submissions. Companies that want to receive RFPs can ask at info@rabbittransit.org. Every contract is subject to Commonwealth and federal law and to a financial assistance contract between the FTA and PennDOT.
The 2026 paratransit round shows what a contract looks like:
- Timeline. Released April 16, 2026, with questions due May 11 and proposals due May 27.
- Scope. Contracted paratransit service run in rabbittransit-owned cutaway buses, to supplement its own shared-ride operation.
- Outcome. Two proposals arrived. On July 23, 2026 the board picked the bidder with the top technical score, which also had the lowest price.
- Term and pay. A two-year base worth $4,097,088, with three optional one-year renewals, capped at $10,746,804 over five years. Pay combines a fixed base fee with a variable fee per service hour, and option-year prices can follow the Mid-Atlantic CPI-U.
Outside operators matter to this budget. The fiscal 2027 budget presented to rabbittransit’s board in April 2026 proposes $44.3 million for purchased transportation, the largest line in $80.5 million of expenses. Taking over MATP in Cambria and Dauphin counties accounts for about $4.8 million and $1.1 million of the year’s increase. In Cambria and Indiana counties the local transit authority runs the trips, so ask CamTran or IndiGO about subcontract work there. Pricing an hourly contract like this one is covered in subcontracting NEMT trips.
Get your PUC certificate first
Any company that carries passengers for pay between two points in Pennsylvania must hold a Certificate of Public Convenience from the Public Utility Commission before it starts. Paratransit authority for vans with up to 15 seats, counting the driver’s, goes on PUC Form 178, and each class of service you request costs $350 to file. The PUC publishes the application in the Pennsylvania Bulletin, where carriers already operating can protest it. Your insurer sends the PUC a Form E showing your coverage. You also file a tariff of your rates, and each year the PUC bills an assessment based on your Pennsylvania gross operating revenue. Paratransit vans need PennDOT BA commercial plates, and each one displays your company name and PUC-A number in lettering no smaller than 2 inches.
What DHS requires in every MATP subcontract
The MATP Standards and Guidelines (revised November 2016) list what an administrator’s transportation subcontracts must contain, so expect these terms in any rabbittransit agreement.
| Area | What the contract must cover |
|---|---|
| Basics | Start date, length, renewal and termination terms, the negotiated rate, how often and in what format you invoice, and how and how often you are paid |
| Data | Timely reporting of every service you provide |
| Records | Books and records open to state and federal auditors, with source records for data reports kept at least four years |
| Liability | A hold harmless clause protecting the Commonwealth and riders if the administrator fails to pay you, and indemnity for your own negligence |
| Compliance | ADA and nondiscrimination terms, notice of false claims penalties, and your acknowledgment that payments come from federal and state funds |
| Privacy | Rider information kept confidential and safeguarded |
| Disclosure | Ownership, control, convictions, and business transactions above $25,000, supplied on request |
A contract can also revoke delegated work or impose sanctions when performance falls short. Each signed transportation contract goes to DHS within 30 days.
Driver, vehicle, and maintenance rules
Every paid MATP driver needs three clearances. The first is the Pennsylvania Child Abuse History Clearance. The second is the criminal record check from the Pennsylvania State Police. The FBI criminal background check is the third. The administrator gets proof of all three from subcontracted drivers at hire. In March 2026 rabbittransit added the FBI check to its own operator hiring policy to line up with the guidelines. Our driver background check guide explains how each check works.
- Exclusion screening. Administrators may not contract with anyone barred from Medicaid, and they run the federal OIG exclusion list search every month or more often.
- Fraud controls. Every subcontractor must have written steps for spotting possible fraud or abuse, stopping it, and reporting it. The administrator follows a written plan for monitoring its subcontractors.
- Maintenance oversight. Maintenance plan amendments that went to rabbittransit’s board on September 24, 2026 put subcontractors on its preventive maintenance schedules, inspection checklists, and standards for comparable vehicles. Their maintenance records must be available for rabbittransit to review.
- Accessibility equipment. Under the same amendments, lifts, ramps, securement systems, and stop announcements are checked on daily pre-trip inspections and at every scheduled service. A vehicle whose ADA equipment problem is not fixed within three days comes out of service.
- Child seats. Riders must bring the car seat or booster Pennsylvania law requires, and rabbittransit will not carry a child on a paratransit vehicle without one.
Trip rules your drivers follow
MATP rides are curb-to-curb unless a medical provider verifies that the rider needs door-to-door help. Curb service still covers the vehicle doors, a hand getting into and out of the seat, and folding, stowing, or tying down a mobility device. It does not include lifting anyone. rabbittransit reminds riders that drivers are not caregivers: a driver may offer an arm for balance, but riders carry their own weight.
| Rule | What it means on the road |
|---|---|
| Pickup window | 30 minutes around the scheduled time. rabbittransit’s DHS waiver lets the van arrive any time inside it, and the driver then holds for at least 5 minutes. |
| No-show | The van reached the stop inside the window, held for 5 minutes, and the rider never got on |
| Late cancel | The rider canceled less than one hour before the pickup window |
| One-hour rule | Riders reach the office at most one hour early and leave within one hour of the visit ending. For grouped trips over an hour each way, an administrator may widen both limits to 2.5 hours. |
| Booking | Requests by 1:30 p.m. the business day before and up to two weeks out. Riders get an automated call the evening before with their window. |
| Urgent care | Rides on short notice, including evenings and weekends, for a condition that would normally be treated within 24 hours, plus hospital discharges. On weekdays during office hours, the administrator has three hours from the request to secure a ride. |
Stretcher rides, door-through-door help, and ambulance transport fall outside MATP, so rabbittransit work means ambulatory and wheelchair riders. For MATP riders 65 and older, a trip that fits the Senior Shared Ride Program’s general public service can run under that program: lottery money covers up to 85 percent of the fare, and MATP picks up the rider’s 15 percent share. Funding rules differ by program, which is why drop-off order on a shared vehicle is not purely geographic. rabbittransit’s rider pages also cite severe driver shortages, and shopping and other non-life-sustaining trips now run only in set weekday windows while medical trips continue.
Where MATP is heading
Pennsylvania studied a statewide broker again in 2026 and came out for the county model. The DHS report that Act 46 of 2025 called for, dated June 25, 2026, estimates that MATP spent about $133.5 million on transportation in state fiscal year 2025. That paid for roughly 4.1 million trips, an average of $32.65 each. In rabbittransit’s 2025 survey of 381 riders, 92 percent were satisfied or very satisfied. Phone answer times and return-trip waits drew the most complaints, with 26 percent dissatisfied. For a subcontractor, prompt return pickups are the clearest place to stand out.
Contacts
| Purpose | Contact |
|---|---|
| Customer service and MATP | 1-800-632-9063, PA Relay 711 |
| Procurement notices | info@rabbittransit.org, with solicitations on PennBid |
| Main office | 415 N Zarfoss Drive, York, PA 17404 |
| Harrisburg office | 901 N. Cameron Street, Harrisburg, PA 17101 |
| Cambria County administration | rabbittransit, 1-800-524-2766 |
| Cambria County trips | CamTran, 1-800-252-3889 |
| Indiana County trips | IndiGO, 724-801-8857 |
Keeping your fleet audit-ready in HealthRide
rabbittransit’s maintenance plan changes call for reviewing subcontractor maintenance records, and no MATP driver can start without all three clearances. HealthRide records when each driver license, vehicle registration, insurance policy, and other credential runs out, warns you before each date arrives, and alerts dispatch if an expired item would end up on a trip. Each shift opens with a van check that drivers complete in the app, which leaves an inspection history ready for any administrator review. See fleet and credentials for the details.
Frequently asked questions
- Does rabbittransit use outside transportation companies for MATP rides?
- Yes. rabbittransit tells riders that subcontractors run part of its shared-ride service, so a trip can arrive in a taxi, minivan, van, or bus marked with the operator's name instead of the rabbittransit logo. In Cambria and Indiana counties, CamTran and IndiGO schedule and run most MATP trips under rabbittransit's administration.
- What does it take to become a rabbittransit subcontractor?
- Watch for its solicitations. rabbittransit buys services through requests for proposals, invitations for bids, and requests for quotations handled on PennBid, and companies that want its RFPs can ask for them at info@rabbittransit.org. Its 2026 paratransit subcontractor RFP opened April 16, closed May 27, and was awarded in July for a two-year base term with three one-year options.
- Which counties does rabbittransit cover for MATP?
- Adams, Columbia, Cumberland, Dauphin, Franklin, Montour, Northumberland, Perry, Snyder, Union, and York. It has also administered Indiana County since January 1, 2020 and Cambria County since April 1, 2025. Dauphin County administration moved to rabbittransit from the Center for Community Building on July 1, 2026.
- What background checks do MATP drivers need in Pennsylvania?
- Three, under the DHS MATP Standards and Guidelines. Each paid driver needs the Pennsylvania Child Abuse History Clearance, a criminal record check run by the Pennsylvania State Police, and a criminal background check through the FBI. Proof of all three goes to the administrator when a subcontracted driver is hired, and the administrator checks the federal exclusion list every month or more often.
- How long does a rabbittransit driver wait for an MATP rider?
- At least 5 minutes once the vehicle arrives inside the 30-minute pickup window. A DHS waiver effective July 26, 2025 lets rabbittransit arrive at any point in that window. If the van is early, the 5-minute count begins when the window opens. Once it runs out, the driver may record a no-show and move on.
- Can I carry stretcher riders through rabbittransit MATP?
- No. DHS excludes stretcher and door-through-door service from MATP, along with nonemergency ambulance transport. A rider who can only travel by stretcher gets a nonemergency ambulance through their Medical Assistance managed care plan or the local County Assistance Office.
