ADA policy template for a NEMT company: service animals, mobility devices, and reasonable modification

What this policy has to cover

A NEMT company’s ADA policy turns the federal service rules into instructions staff can follow at the curb and on the phone. A company whose main business is carrying people falls under 49 CFR 37.5(f), which brings in the Justice Department’s rules on eligibility criteria, reasonable modifications, auxiliary aids, and barrier removal (28 CFR 36.301 to 36.306). The service rules in Part 37, Subpart G apply to public and private entities alike. Our guide to ADA requirements for NEMT vehicles and service explains each rule, and this page gives you the written policy that puts them to work.

Two duties have no size cutoff and are the reason to write the policy down. Every entity covered by Part 37 designates at least one person to coordinate compliance and adopts complaint procedures (49 CFR 37.17). Every company running demand response service trains its people to proficiency, so they assist riders with disabilities properly and treat them “in a respectful and courteous way” (37.173).

If Medicaid pays for your rides, the Section 1557 rule also asks for a written procedure for answering requests to change a rule or practice, including how you decide whether a change would fundamentally alter the service and how you find an alternative that does not (45 CFR 92.8(f)). Section 9 of the template covers it.

If you run trips under contract to a transit agency, the agency must make sure you meet the Part 37 duties it would have if it ran the service itself (49 CFR 37.23), including its process for modification requests. Read the contract first and see our guide to working as an ADA paratransit contractor.

Replace each bracket with your own details, strike the options that do not apply, and collect a signed acknowledgment from every driver, dispatcher, and manager.

The template

[Company name] disability access policy

Effective date: [date] | Approved by: [owner name] | Next review: [date]

1. Our commitment

[Company name] does not discriminate against any person because of a disability. We carry riders with disabilities on the same trips, at the same fares, and with the same booking options as everyone else, and we change our usual practices when a rider needs a change to use our service.

2. ADA coordinator

Our ADA coordinator is [job title], reached at [phone], [email], and [mailing address]. The coordinator answers questions about this policy, decides modification requests that staff cannot settle on the spot, and handles disability complaints. This contact appears on our website and in our rider materials (49 CFR 37.17).

3. Fares and fees

• We charge riders with disabilities nothing extra for help, equipment, time, or space they need because of a disability (37.5(d)).
• A trip costs the same whether or not the rider needs a lift- or ramp-equipped vehicle.
• Stowing a wheelchair, walker, or other mobility aid costs the same as stowing luggage. [We do not charge for luggage.]
• We never charge for a service animal. We charge for damage an animal causes only if we charge other riders for damage they cause.
• We never refuse a rider, or impose a condition, because our insurer asks us to (37.5(g)).

4. Attendants

No rider with a disability has to bring an attendant to ride with us (37.5(e)). A personal care attendant may ride with the rider [at no charge]. Our drivers do not provide personal care such as toileting, feeding, or dressing.

5. Service animals

• A service animal is a dog trained, individually, to carry out work or tasks connected to its handler’s disability (28 CFR 36.104). Emotional support, comfort, and protection by presence alone do not make a dog a service animal.
• Service animals ride with their handlers (37.167(d)). When it is not obvious what the dog does, staff may ask only two things: whether the dog is needed because of a disability, and which task it is trained to do. Staff do not ask about the disability, ask for papers, or ask the dog to demonstrate.
• The dog stays under the handler’s control, on a leash or harness unless the disability or the task prevents it. The handler, not the driver, cares for the dog.
• Staff may ask a handler to take a dog off the vehicle in two cases only: the dog is out of control and the handler fails to control it, or the dog is not housebroken. Then we offer the ride without the animal (36.302(c)).
• A driver’s allergy or fear of dogs is not a reason to refuse. Dispatch assigns another driver instead.
• Requests to bring a trained miniature horse go to the coordinator.

The practical steps for drivers are in our guide to service animals in NEMT vans.

6. Wheelchairs and other mobility devices

• We carry any wheelchair and its rider that our lift or ramp and our securement area can hold. Each vehicle’s limits are listed in Part B (37.165(b)).
• We may decline a chair only when the occupied chair exceeds the lift’s rated load, or when carrying it would break a legitimate safety requirement, such as keeping the aisle clear. The coordinator confirms every refusal the same day.
• We secure every wheelchair in a securement position, and we never refuse a ride because a chair is hard to tie down (37.165(c) and (d)).
• Drivers may suggest that a rider move to a vehicle seat. The rider decides (37.165(e)).
• Riders who use canes or walkers, and riders who cannot climb steps, may use the lift or ramp on request (37.165(g)).
• If a lift or ramp breaks, dispatch moves that vehicle’s wheelchair trips to another accessible vehicle, and the lift is repaired promptly (37.161).

7. Help boarding and leaving the vehicle

Drivers help with the lift, the ramp, and securement whenever a rider needs it or asks, and leave the driver’s seat to do it (37.165(f)). No rider is rushed on or off the vehicle; each gets enough time to finish boarding and leaving (37.167(i)). Our door assistance standard is [curb-to-curb / door-to-door / door-through-door], with exceptions decided under section 9.

8. Oxygen and respirators

Riders may bring a respirator or portable oxygen (37.167(h)). Drivers secure cylinders and concentrators as our oxygen policy describes.

9. Requests to change how we usually do things

• A rider, family member, or facility may ask for a change at booking, by phone, in writing, or to the driver at pickup. Advance requests are not required.
• Drivers may grant a request on the spot when it is safe and does not delay other riders by more than [__] minutes. Anything else goes to dispatch, then to the coordinator.
• We grant a request unless it would fundamentally alter our service, would create a direct threat to the health or safety of others, or is not needed for the rider to use our service.
• When we deny a request, we offer the closest alternative that works and tell the rider why. Every decision is recorded in Part C.

10. Talking with riders and taking bookings

• We answer calls from relay services exactly as we answer other calls, and our phone menu and voicemail work for TTY and relay callers (28 CFR 36.303(d)).
• Riders can book and get trip information by [phone, text, email, online form], so a rider who cannot use the phone has another way (37.167(f)).
• We provide written notes, large print, or a qualified interpreter when needed for clear communication, at no charge. A rider’s relative or friend serves as interpreter only in an emergency, or when the rider chooses it, the companion agrees, and it is appropriate. A child interprets only in an emergency when no interpreter is available (28 CFR 36.303(c)).
• Drivers announce themselves at the door for riders who are blind or have low vision, and do not rely on the horn.

11. When we may refuse service

We may refuse to carry a rider who is violent, seriously disruptive, or engaged in illegal conduct, or whose behavior poses a direct threat to other people’s health or safety (37.5(h)). We do not refuse a rider because a disability affects appearance or causes involuntary behavior that bothers staff or other riders. Where we could lawfully refuse, we may instead offer the ride on the condition that an attendant comes along. Every refusal is reported to [owner or coordinator] the same day and documented. The warning steps before a refusal are in our rider conduct policy.

12. Complaints

Anyone may complain to the ADA coordinator by phone, email, mail, or in person, or ask a driver or dispatcher to pass a complaint on. We accept complaints in an accessible format the person can use. We answer with our decision and our reasons, keep a record of the answer, and never retaliate against anyone who complains. Our full complaint procedure sets the deadlines.

13. Training

Every driver, dispatcher, and manager completes training on this policy before their first shift and [every year], with hands-on practice on each lift, ramp, and securement system they will use (37.173). Training is recorded in the driver training log.

Part B: Vehicle limits

Copy the rated capacity from the lift or ramp label, not the brochure.

Part C: Modification request record

Acknowledgment

I have read the [Company name] disability access policy and completed the training it requires.

Using the request record

Part C is the proof that section 9 works. Log every request, including the ones a driver grants at the curb, so that if a rider complains you can show how the policy works day to day. DOT’s 27 worked examples, from opening a building door to a call five minutes before arrival, are summarized in our entry on reasonable modification, and they are the best guide to which requests to grant.

Review Part C each quarter with the coordinator:

1. Look for repeats. The same request from several riders, such as help up an icy driveway, means the standard practice should change for everyone.
2. Check every denial. Each one should name the ground (fundamental alteration, direct threat, or not needed) and the alternative offered.
3. Feed it into training. Add the month’s hardest calls to the next driver and dispatcher session, so the answer is the same whoever takes the request.

Filling in Part B: the chairs you can carry

Part B keeps dispatch from guessing. The old “common wheelchair” size limit is gone, so the question for every power chair is whether your equipment can take it. DOT’s guidance in Appendix D to Part 37 draws the lines:

• Weight. A lift that meets the Part 38 design standard handles at least 600 pounds of chair and rider. If your lift is rated for 800 pounds, you may limit it to combinations of 800 pounds or less, and you must carry anything up to that.
• Size. A chair wider or longer than the 30 by 48 inch footprint still rides if it fits on the lift and in the securement area.
• Safety. A chair so large it would block the aisle and slow an emergency evacuation may be declined as a legitimate safety requirement.

Ask the chair’s weight with the rider in it at booking, and match it against Part B before you assign the trip. Our guide to power wheelchairs and scooters covers the booking questions and the transfer conversation in detail.

Matching riders to vehicles in HealthRide

The vehicle limits in Part B only help if dispatch sees them when assigning trips. HealthRide keeps each vehicle’s seat and wheelchair capacity on file, matches wheelchair, stretcher, and oxygen needs to the vehicles set up for them, and counts escorts on the trip, so dispatch can see which vehicle fits a rider before the trip is assigned. Dispatchers then assign each trip in one motion on the dispatch board.