Airport Ground Transportation Permits for NEMT in 2027: Fees, Insurance, and Curb Rules at Five Airports

What an airport ground transportation permit is

An airport ground transportation permit is the airport’s written permission for your company to carry paying passengers on airport roads and curbs. If a family or a facility books your van for a flight, that is a private pay ride, and the airport’s rules apply before the first pickup.

Three points decide when the rules reach you:

• Who pays does not matter. Orlando counts any vehicle carrying passengers for compensation as a commercial vehicle, whether the passengers pay directly or someone pays for them. A ride a facility or a family pays for counts.
• Pickups need one. Los Angeles bars any commercial activity on the airport without operating authority. Nashville requires a permit before any commercial passenger transportation there.
• Drop-offs usually need one too. Jacksonville requires its yearly permit to pick up or drop off passengers. Fees for drop-offs are often lower: most Nashville classes pay $0 for trips to the airport, and Los Angeles applies charter access fees to pickups only. Sacramento charges the same trip fee for a drop-off.

Airports write their own rules, so the details below come from five of them. Use them as a checklist for the airport near you.

What permits and pickup fees cost at five airports

Pickup fees run from $1.50 to $5 at four of these airports, and Orlando charges by the time your van spends on its pickup level instead.

Airport	What you need	What a pickup costs
Los Angeles (LAX)	Active CPUC charter-party permit, license agreement, $150 to apply, $150 a year, $50 per transponder	$5 per pickup for vehicles seating 25 or fewer
Orlando (MCO)	Non-concessionaire (N) permit, $100 to apply, $15 per device, $500 deposit for one van	$4.15 for the first 10 minutes on Level 1, then $2.85 per 10 minutes
Jacksonville (JAX)	Yearly permit, $100, plus $20 per proximity card	$4 per trip from the airport, plus time charges after the first hour
Nashville (BNA)	$50 to apply, $5 decal, $25 transponder, $20 vehicle registration	$1.50 to $2.00 in the licensed limousine and shuttle classes, $5 each way for an unlisted service
Sacramento (SMF)	Application, safety inspection, transponder, $30 per vehicle	$2.50 under 6 seats, $3.00 for 6 to 11, charged per trip onto the airport

What sits behind each row:

• Los Angeles. LAWA’s FAQ lists the application, yearly, and transponder fees, plus $20 a month in late fees, and takes pickup fees from a prepaid online account that refills from your card. The pickup rate comes from LAWA’s access fee sheet dated August 1, 2018, and LAWA says a new application can take up to 100 days. The charter permit requires an active California Public Utilities Commission permit, but California exempts vehicles used only for medical transportation from its charter-party law (Public Utilities Code 5353(i)). The CPUC counts wheelchair and gurney riders in a vehicle set up and used for medical transport as medical trips even with no medical purpose, and warns that a van also used for other paid trips can lose the exemption. An exempt company may hold no CPUC permit, so ask LAWA which permit fits before your first pickup.
• Orlando. The rate table in the rules amended December 11, 2024 took effect January 1, 2025. The first 10 minutes include a $3.20 privilege fee, the table reaches $18.40 at 51 to 60 minutes, and fees stop growing at three hours. The deposit is $1,000 for two to five vans and $2,500 for more. Permits end September 30 of even-numbered years, so one issued in October 2026 runs to September 30, 2028.
• Jacksonville. The fee schedule was revised October 1, 2023. In the pre-arranged pickup facility, the first hour is free, the next 30 minutes cost $1, and each 30 minutes after that costs $5. You also need Florida or Georgia registrations and driver licenses and a Jacksonville and Duval County business tax receipt, and the airport checks each driver against sex offender registries. See the Duval County page for local licensing.
• Nashville. No class names wheelchair or stretcher service, and the airport alone decides your class. Off-airport limousine operators licensed by Metro Nashville’s Transportation Licensing Commission pay $1.50 for a small vehicle and $1.75 for a mid-size one, and licensed shuttle operators pay $1.50 or $2.00. A small vehicle is under 24 feet long and 9 feet wide, seating up to 6 with the driver, and mid-size seats 7 to 15. A service that fits no class must send a written proposal to the airport’s chief operating officer and get written approval before its first trip, and that class pays $5 each way.
• Sacramento. The rules date from August 30, 2019, reviewed March 2022. The trip fee applies to each trip a permitted van makes onto the airport on business, drop-offs included, and the $30 administration fee is due for each vehicle once it passes inspection. Nonprofit services and prearranged interstate providers pay no trip fees.

Insurance the airport will ask for

Each airport sets its own auto liability minimum, and each of these, along with PortMiami, wants to be named on your certificate as an additional insured. Los Angeles puts its limits in the insurance schedule of the license agreement.

Airport or port	Auto liability minimum	Also required
Orlando	$125,000 per person, $250,000 per accident, $50,000 property, for 9 or fewer seats	City of Orlando and the airport authority as additional insureds
Jacksonville	The same split limits, or $300,000 combined	30 days’ notice before cancellation
Nashville	$500,000 combined	$1 million general liability, insurer rated A- or better and licensed in Tennessee
Sacramento	$750,000 for 7 seats or fewer, $1.5 million for 8 to 15	Workers’ compensation and $1 million employer’s liability
PortMiami	$500,000 combined	$500,000 general liability per occurrence, $1 million aggregate

Orlando requires $1 million combined for a vehicle seating 10 or more. Send the airport’s page to your agent before you apply, and compare it with what your state and brokers already require in NEMT insurance requirements.

Where your driver waits and how long

Most of these airports keep a waiting van off the pickup curb, so plan where yours waits while the rider collects bags.

Airport	Where the van waits	Time limit
Los Angeles	Holding lot or public parking, never unattended at a curb	45 seconds at a loading zone unless loading
Orlando	Commercial vehicle parking area while the driver meets the rider in baggage claim	15 minutes before to 30 minutes after a domestic landing; 5 hours in the holding area
Jacksonville	Pre-arranged pickup facility, or the cell phone lot staging area	2 hours in the facility
Nashville	Ground Transportation Center, with the driver at the van	20 minutes, then double the trip fee per 10 minutes
Sacramento	Free two-hour parking curb on Lindbergh Drive during flight delays	2 hours

Meeting the rider inside

Orlando and Jacksonville use the same window for meeting a passenger in baggage claim. The driver may enter no more than 15 minutes before a domestic flight lands, or 5 minutes before an international one, and may stay 30 minutes after a domestic arrival or an hour after an international one. At Orlando the van’s time in the commercial vehicle parking area follows the same window, and a driver can call the ground transportation agent at 407-408-6825 for more time when a flight is late. Both airports let a driver meeting a passenger in a wheelchair go beyond the marked meet and greet area.

Nashville is stricter. Drivers stay with their vehicles in the Ground Transportation Center and may not help greeters inside unless another licensed operator stays with the van, and commercial vehicles may not load on the arrivals drive. Signs at Jacksonville and Nashville may not exceed 10 by 12 inches.

When your driver cannot go in, the airline can bring the rider out. Federal rule 14 CFR 382.91(b) requires airlines to help a passenger with a disability who asks, from the gate through baggage claim to the terminal entrance or a vehicle pickup point next to it. Ask the rider or family to request it when they book the flight.

The federal rule for interstate prearranged trips

One federal law limits airport fees on trips that cross a state line. Under 49 U.S.C. 14501(d), no state or local government may require a license or fee for prearranged ground transportation when all three are true:

1. Your company meets the federal registration requirements for interstate passenger transportation.
2. It meets the vehicle and passenger licensing rules of the state where it is based or registered to do business.
3. The trip runs under a contract from one state to another, or from one state through another and back.

Prearranged ground transportation means a trip arranged in advance in a vehicle seating 15 or fewer, including the driver (49 U.S.C. 13102(19)). The law still lets a state require drug testing or a background check for drivers on trips that start there, and lets an airport give preferred access to providers it contracts with.

Sacramento writes the rule into its regulations. It waives transponder, decal, and trip fees for qualifying trips and asks drivers to keep four things in the glove box: the letter of federal authority, proof of insurance at federal levels, the driver’s criminal background check (or a statement that the home state requires none), and the USDOT number for a vehicle seating 8 to 15. A provider can fax those papers to (916) 874-0565 for a free permit to display. Without one, a provider charged a fee or cited has 10 days to show the trip invoice, the van’s seating capacity, and proof of registration and licensing to have it withdrawn. The waiver covers only the interstate trip, and claiming it falsely brings a $100 fine. For the registration itself, see USDOT numbers for NEMT and out-of-state NEMT trips.

County and seaport permits in Florida

Florida counties that license wheelchair and stretcher companies can add airport and port fees on top of the airport’s own permit.

• Broward County. A licensed company that picks up at Port Everglades pays a $250 first-time processing fee, a $250 yearly business permit, and $20 per vehicle decal. Picking up at Fort Lauderdale-Hollywood International adds a $50 special permit per vehicle each year. These are the fees as of October 1, 2025, in the application revised July 28, 2026. The Broward County page covers the license itself.
• Palm Beach County. The county’s vehicle for hire checklist for the 2026 license year lists a $50 airport decal, on top of the $100 business permit and $50 decal for each vehicle. See the Palm Beach County page.
• PortMiami. Every ground transportation company needs an active business permit: a $400 processing fee and a $350 permit. Entries cost $4.50 for a van of 14 or fewer passengers on a prepaid account, or $6.00 without one. You also need workers’ compensation, Miami-Dade County named on your general liability policy, a business license or articles of incorporation, and a passenger motor carrier certificate of transportation where it applies. Interstate carriers show an FMCSA operating authority number. See the Miami-Dade County page.

The Florida state guide covers statewide licensing and Medicaid enrollment.

How to price an airport trip

An airport ride carries costs a trip across town does not. Add four things to the base fee and loaded miles from how much to charge for NEMT:

• The airport’s fee. A flat pickup fee, or a time charge like Orlando’s.
• Parking. At Los Angeles, a driver who leaves the van must use the holding lot or public parking at the posted rate.
• Late flights. Track the flight, and wait where it is cheap: Jacksonville’s first hour is free, Sacramento’s delay curb is free for two hours, and Orlando’s fees count only time on Level 1, not the holding area.
• Your own wait time. Charge it from a stated start, such as 30 minutes after landing, the way you would on any wait time billing.

Here is an Orlando example at the January 1, 2025 rates. A wheelchair rider’s domestic flight lands on time. The driver parks in the commercial vehicle parking area 15 minutes before landing, meets the rider in baggage claim, and pulls out 30 minutes after landing, the latest the window allows. That is 45 minutes on Level 1, so the airport bills $15.55 for the pickup. Put that fee, any parking, and your wait rate on the quote, and say in writing how a late flight changes the price. For trips that end hours away, price the drive home with long-distance medical transport cost.

How to get an airport permit, step by step

1. Get the current rules and fee table from the airport’s ground transportation office. Fees change: Los Angeles may adjust trip fees up to twice a year, and Orlando reviews its fees against inflation every year.
2. Get your local licenses first. Your county license where one applies, a local business tax receipt, and any state permit the airport asks for.
3. Ask your agent for a certificate naming the airport as an additional insured at its limits.
4. Apply and pay the application fee, deposit, and device fees. Los Angeles also requires an orientation before it issues vehicle permits.
5. Mount the decal and transponder exactly where the airport says, on the van they were issued for. They cannot move between vehicles.
6. Train your drivers on where to stage, the meet and greet window, sign sizes, no soliciting, and no idling. Los Angeles charter drivers carry a waybill filled out in advance for each prearranged trip.
7. Check every monthly bill. Los Angeles gives you 30 days to dispute a charge, and Orlando wants its time charges paid within 20 days of the bill.
8. Renew on time. Jacksonville permits end every September 30, with a $50 late fee, and Orlando permits end September 30 of even-numbered years.