Hours of Service Rules for NEMT Drivers: When the Federal Limits Apply and What Applies Instead

What the federal hours of service rules say

Hours of service rules limit how long a commercial driver may drive and how long they may stay on duty. The Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration (FMCSA) sets them in 49 CFR part 395. Passenger drivers follow their own section, 395.5. The truck limits in 395.3 do not apply to them.

Limit for passenger-carrying vehicles	The rule
Driving	No more than 10 hours after 8 consecutive hours off duty
On duty	No driving after 15 hours on duty following 8 consecutive hours off. The 15 counts on-duty hours only, so a real off-duty break in the middle does not use it up.
Weekly	No driving after 60 hours on duty in 7 days, or 70 hours in 8 days if the company runs vehicles every day of the week
Bad weather or traffic	Up to 2 more hours to finish the run or reach a safe place, when the snow, fog, or unusual traffic was not known, or could not reasonably be known, to the driver when the duty day began or to the company when it dispatched the driver (395.1(b) and 395.2)
Illness or fatigue	No driving while fatigue or illness makes it unsafe, whatever the hours say (49 CFR 392.3)

On-duty time is more than driving. It runs from the time a driver starts work or must be ready to work until the driver is relieved from work and all responsibility for it. It includes waiting to be dispatched, inspecting or servicing the vehicle, remaining in readiness to operate it, and dealing with a breakdown (49 CFR 395.2). For NEMT, that means a driver who waits at a clinic, ready to take the rider home, is on duty. Hours a covered driver works at any other paid job, such as a second driving gig, count as on duty too.

When the federal rules apply to a NEMT company

The rules reach a trip only when both of these are true:

1. The vehicle is a commercial motor vehicle. For passengers, it is rated or weighs 10,001 pounds or more, is designed or used to carry more than 8 people including the driver for compensation, or is designed or used for more than 15 people including the driver without compensation (49 CFR 390.5T). Check the weight rating on the door-frame label, not the brochure.
2. The trip is interstate commerce. It goes from one state to another, passes through another state between two points in yours, or is the in-state part of a trip that starts or ends out of state (49 CFR 390.5T).

A sedan, a minivan, or a wheelchair van built and used for 8 or fewer people and rated under 10,001 pounds is outside the federal rules on any trip. So is any vehicle on trips that start and end in your state and are not part of a longer interstate trip.

Three exceptions and extensions matter:

• Vans for 9 to 15 people not paid directly. These skip most federal safety rules, hours of service included, when the carrier gets no direct compensation (49 CFR 390.3T(f)(6)). Direct compensation is payment by the passengers, or someone acting for them, for the ride itself. FMCSA’s 2022 guidance in Appendix A to part 390 treats a specific fee charged for the ride as direct. If you are paid per trip, plan as though the exception does not apply, and confirm with FMCSA.
• Sick and injured persons. The federal safety rules do not apply to “the transportation of human corpses or sick and injured persons” (49 CFR 390.3T(f)(4)). The rule does not define the phrase or say whether it reaches NEMT, so ask FMCSA in writing before you rely on it.
• A few interstate trips can cover all your drivers. In the same 2022 guidance, FMCSA says a carrier whose drivers are randomly assigned to interstate trips can be covered for all of them, even when only 3 to 4 percent of trips cross a state line. It also says it keeps jurisdiction over a carrier, its vehicles, and its drivers for 4 months after an interstate trip.

For the registration side of the same test, see do NEMT companies need a USDOT number, and for the inspection side, FMCSA vehicle inspection rules. A vehicle built for 16 or more people also needs a CDL driver, even in state; see do NEMT drivers need a CDL.

Logs, the short-haul exception, and ELDs

A driver under the federal rules records every day’s duty status, and since December 18, 2017 that record generally goes on an electronic logging device (ELD) (49 CFR 395.8). Most NEMT drivers who fall under the rules can use the short-haul exception instead:

Short-haul condition for passenger drivers	49 CFR 395.1(e)(1)
Distance	Stays within 150 air miles (172.6 statute miles) of the normal work reporting location
Workday	Returns there and is released within 14 consecutive hours
Rest	At least 8 consecutive hours off between each 14 hours on duty
Your records	Keep 6 months of time records: report time, total hours on duty each day, release time, and the 7-day total for new or occasional drivers

Drivers who do need logs can use paper instead of an ELD in two cases a NEMT company may meet: logs are needed on no more than 8 days in any 30-day period, or the vehicle was built before model year 2000. Keep logs and supporting documents for at least 6 months (49 CFR 395.8(k)).

State and local limits that apply instead

The federal rules reach only the trips they cover. For in-state work, some states adopt the federal limits, some write their own, and some cities add a cap. Ask the office that regulates passenger carriers in your state, such as MoDOT in Missouri, WYDOT in Wyoming, or the Public Utility Commission in Pennsylvania.

Where	Who it covers	Limit
Florida, Rule 14-90.006 (effective September 16, 2010)	Community transportation coordinators and contract operators on recurring contracts, including those paid with transportation disadvantaged funds (Rule 41-2.006). Vans, modified vans, station wagons, and sedans count as Type II buses.	No more than 12 hours of driving in a 24-hour day, no driving after 16 hours on duty, 8 consecutive hours off before driving again, and no more than 72 hours on duty in 7 days, reset by 24 consecutive hours off
Pennsylvania, 52 Pa. Code 37.204 (in effect since May 20, 1995)	Passenger carriers the Public Utility Commission regulates, including certificated paratransit service (52 Pa. Code 29.13)	49 CFR part 395 adopted for in-state work. The federal exceptions list in 390.3 is deleted, and the log exemption for lightweight vehicles does not cover vehicles carrying passengers for hire (37.202 and 37.205).
Missouri, RSMo 307.400	Vehicles that meet the federal commercial motor vehicle test, on trips inside the state too. MoDOT’s Safety and Compliance Manual (September 2023) lists passenger vehicles rated over 10,000 pounds, built or used for 9 or more people including the driver for pay, or built or used for 16 or more. Since August 28, 2012, in-state vehicles seating 7 or 8 including the driver are outside unless they meet another part of the test.	Federal parts 390 to 397 apply, hours of service included, whether the trip is intrastate or interstate. The same manual lists the transportation of sick and injured people as an exception, so ask MoDOT how it treats your trips.
Wyoming, W.S. 31-18-303(e)	In-state rides for pay in vehicles with an occupant capacity of 7 to 15, such as a seven-seat minivan or a 12 or 15 passenger van	The passenger hours of service rules in 49 CFR part 395 apply as they do to larger vehicles: 10 hours of driving and 15 on duty after 8 off, and the weekly caps
Portland, Oregon, City Code 16.40.780 (as of September 2026)	NEMT drivers the city permits	No for-hire rides after more than 12 hours of driving in any 24-hour period

Florida adds a few details. The workday starts when the driver first reports for duty (Rule 14-90.006). The 24-hour day runs from midnight to midnight, and off-duty time does not count toward the 16 hours (Rule 14-90.002). A driver may go up to one extra hour to reach a regular relief or dispatch point, and may exceed the limits to protect the public in bad weather, a disaster, a security threat, a road or traffic problem, a medical emergency, or an accident.

Broker agreements can add their own rules, so read the driver standards in each one. CareOregon’s manual (February 2024) accepts driver schedule limits, such as a shift that ends before the trip would, as a reason to ask for reassignment, and asks for as much notice as possible.

Wage law is a separate question. Federal wage law does not cap daily hours, but it decides overtime; see NEMT driver overtime.

How to plan NEMT shifts around the limits

Here is a hypothetical split shift, built around dialysis. A driver reports at 4:30 a.m., drives the morning chair runs, and is on duty until 10:30 a.m., with 5 of those 6 hours spent driving. The company fully releases the driver from 10:30 a.m. to 1:30 p.m., and the driver comes back for the afternoon returns.

Rule	On-duty limit	Driving left after the morning	Latest driving time
Federal, if the van and trips are covered	15 hours on duty	5 hours	10:30 p.m. (6 hours used, 9 left from 1:30 p.m.)
Florida Rule 14-90.006	16 hours on duty in the day	7 hours	11:30 p.m. (6 hours used, 10 left from 1:30 p.m.)
Portland City Code	No on-duty limit in the code	7 hours	When 12 hours of driving in 24 are reached

The release only helps if it is real. If the driver waits at the center, ready to go, the whole day counts as on duty, and the federal driver in this example must stop driving at 7:30 p.m.

1. Classify every vehicle by seating design and weight rating, and write it in the vehicle file.
2. Decide who may take interstate trips before one comes in, and treat those drivers as covered for 4 months after.
3. Record release times whenever a driver is relieved during a long appointment.
4. Keep daily time records for every driver: report time, release time, and total hours. That meets the short-haul rule and answers any broker or wage question.
5. Hand back trips early when a driver will run out of hours, instead of stretching the shift.
6. Set one fatigue rule for everyone, covered or not, and let any driver stop without penalty.

For shift patterns that fit dialysis mornings and afternoon returns, see NEMT driver schedules. For long rural days, see rural NEMT.