TNC Access for All Program (2027): How a California Wheelchair Van Company Gets Funded

How the TNC Access for All program works

California’s Legislature created the program with SB 1376 in 2018, now Public Utilities Code 5440.5, and the California Public Utilities Commission (CPUC) runs it. The goal is more on-demand rides in wheelchair accessible vehicles (WAVs) for people with disabilities. The law set a floor of 5 cents per trip, and CPUC Decision 19-06-033 set the fee at 10 cents on every completed ride-hailing trip starting July 1, 2019.

A transportation network company, the law’s name for a ride-hailing company, can keep part of the fee by spending the same amount improving its own WAV service in a county. Whatever it does not claim goes to the CPUC’s Access Fund. The fees from each county stay in that county, so the money available depends on how many ride-hailing trips start there and how much the companies claim back.

Local agencies hand the money out. Since Decision 20-03-007, county transportation commissions, regional planning agencies, and metropolitan planning organizations can serve as Local Access Fund Administrators, and Decision 23-02-024 added public transit agencies for counties where no planning agency applies. Each one picks access providers through a competitive call. In counties with no local administrator, a statewide administrator does the job. The CPUC awarded that contract to GCAP Services on February 24, 2025.

AB 1532, an urgency law signed October 1, 2025, extended the program to January 1, 2032. It had been set to end January 1, 2026.

The CPUC’s program rules (version 1.7, July 2026) describe access providers as companies or agencies that can offer WAV service like a ride-hailing app but need money to do it. A wheelchair van company with open hours on its schedule fits that description. For how Medi-Cal rides work in the same vans, see the California state guide.

Who runs it in your county

For the 2026-27 funding year, 16 local administrators cover 20 counties, and the statewide administrator covers the other 38. The CPUC’s notice lists about $24.3 million statewide, based on fund balances as of June 30, 2025. Amounts below are the notice’s estimates, rounded to the dollar.

County	Administrator	Estimated 2026-27 funds
Alameda	Alameda County Transportation Commission	$1,710,243
Contra Costa	Contra Costa Transportation Authority	$648,383
Fresno	Fresno Council of Governments	$274,879
Kern	Kern Council of Governments	$487,416
Los Angeles	LA Metro	$1,991,908
Marin	Metropolitan Transportation Commission	$235,649
Monterey	Transportation Agency for Monterey County	$120,510
Napa	Metropolitan Transportation Commission	$152,609
Sacramento	Sacramento Regional Transit District	$928,326
San Diego	SANDAG	$3,256,645
San Francisco	San Francisco Municipal Transportation Agency	$1,373
San Joaquin	San Joaquin Regional Transit District	$180,708
San Luis Obispo	San Luis Obispo Council of Governments	$89,319
San Mateo	Metropolitan Transportation Commission	$862,036
Santa Barbara	Santa Barbara County Association of Governments	$215,612
Santa Clara	Metropolitan Transportation Commission	$3,420,050
Santa Cruz	Santa Cruz County Regional Transportation Commission	$81,262
Solano	Solano Transportation Authority	$151,784
Sonoma	Metropolitan Transportation Commission	$318,999
Ventura	Ventura County Transportation Commission	$204,580

Some of the biggest pots sit with the statewide administrator: Orange County at about $4,763,761, Riverside at $1,637,931, and San Bernardino at $1,569,181. Its Cycle 5 awards for calendar year 2026, announced February 18, 2026, came to about $15.4 million in 15 agreements with 8 organizations across 9 counties. The awards ranged from $5,666 to $3,125,969, and each figure includes a 15% administrative cost. That call opened October 1, 2025 and closed November 12, 2025. Applications go through the online portal linked from cpucsafa.org, with a separate application for each county you want to serve, and funded providers send monthly invoices for reimbursement.

Who can be an access provider

You qualify in one of two ways under Decisions 21-03-005 and 21-11-004. Either you hold a CPUC-issued permit before you apply, or you are a carrier without one that documents all of these:

• Background checks that meet or exceed what the CPUC requires of ride-hailing drivers.
• Insurance at least equal to what General Order 115 requires of charter-party carriers. As amended March 21, 2024, that is $750,000 for a vehicle seating 8 or fewer counting the driver, $1,500,000 for 9 to 15, and $5,000,000 for 16 or more.
• A controlled substance and alcohol testing program you are enrolled in.
• Articles of incorporation filed with the California Secretary of State. Government agencies are exempt.
• A CHP 362 Motor Carrier Profile and a CA number from the California Highway Patrol. The CPUC’s provider page says this applies to carriers running a bus or modified limousine, but the Safety Protocol Declaration Form lists it for every provider, so ask your administrator.

You must also run, or contract for, on-demand WAV service, which the rules define as any service that does not follow a fixed route or schedule. Administrators must favor providers that can fill a request within 24 hours. LA Metro’s FY 2025 call and SANDAG’s Cycle 2 call both set a tighter bar, defining on-demand as filling a request within 12 hours.

The safety declaration

Every provider signs the CPUC’s Safety Protocol Declaration Form (version 1.2, updated April 2026) under penalty of perjury. On top of the items above, it requires:

• Driver training on transporting people with disabilities within the past three years, covering sensitivity, passenger assistance, equipment use, door-to-door service, and safety procedures.
• Vehicle inspection within the past year, confirming each WAV meets the ADA Accessibility Specifications for Transportation Vehicles, including the 19-point safety inspection used in charter-party and ride-hailing permits.
• The International Symbol of Accessibility on the passenger-side door below the handle and on the rear, right side above the bumper.
• Records of all this, kept for five years after the program’s January 1, 2032 end date.

Check the medical exemption first

A van used only for medical rides needs no CPUC permit, under the medical exemption in Public Utilities Code 5353(i). The CPUC applies it vehicle by vehicle and says a vehicle used even occasionally for non-medical paid passengers should be evaluated, because it may lose the exemption, even for its medical trips. Access for All pays for on-demand rides like the ones ride-hailing apps give, and the rules do not limit them to medical trips.

The CPUC’s exemption page does count wheelchair and gurney rides as medical transportation even when a trip has no medical purpose, as long as the van is set up and used for medical transport. A van that carries only wheelchair riders may fit that. A van that also carries other riders to errands or events for pay may not. Before you put a van in the program, list who it will carry, then get a charter-party permit for it or ask CPUC licensing staff for a formal opinion. The California TCP permit guide covers that permit.

How access providers get paid

Each administrator chooses whether to run a grant program or a reimbursement program. Under the CPUC rules (version 1.7), a provider has one year from its contract to use the funds, contracts can run up to five years in total, and at least 85% of each county’s award must go to providers. Unused money goes back to the administrator within 30 days after the contract ends.

The rules list the costs the fund can pay:

• Vehicles. Buying, leasing, or renting WAVs, rental subsidies for drivers, inspections, maintenance, fuel, and cleaning.
• Partnerships. Fees to a transportation partner, vehicle subsidies, and consultants.
• Drivers. Recruiting, onboarding, training, and incentives.
• Operations. Marketing, technology, community outreach, and wages, salaries, and benefits for staff other than maintenance staff.
• Fares. Ride fare subsidies, which lower what the rider pays.

The fund cannot pay for any trip a ride-hailing company already pays you for, and you must disclose whether you are or were a service provider for one.

Two county solicitations side by side

LA Metro and SANDAG both reimburse costs already incurred, but their calls differed in size and structure.

Term	LA Metro FY 2025	SANDAG Cycle 2
Money offered	$5,855,760, with 5% held for appeals	$2,337,633
Request size	Up to the full amount	$100,000 to $2,337,633
Local match	Not required	Not required, but it earns points
Payment	Reimbursement with ride reports	Reimbursement, invoiced quarterly
Time to spend	12 months	12 months from the notice to proceed
Who may apply	Public agencies, nonprofits, and private companies	Permitted carriers, documented non-permitted carriers, and some ride-hailing companies

LA Metro’s invoices, typically monthly or quarterly, come with operating reports for each month: rides given, rides booked, cancellations and no-shows, on-time rate, average travel time, and call counts. Applications for that round were due April 21, 2025, and needed at least 70 of 100 points to be funded. SANDAG wants a progress report with every quarterly invoice, due 30 days after the quarter ends, and gives 15 points for safety and 10 for serving riders without a smartphone or internet.

What past awards paid for

LA Metro’s fiscal 2023 awards totaled $7,865,833 across five recipients. A taxi cooperative was awarded $3,201,660 to buy 36 WAVs, the City of Santa Clarita $208,400 for one more WAV, and three providers operating assistance to run WAV service. In fiscal 2024, a single provider received the whole $1,584,814.

In San Diego, five applicants asked for $10,876,118 in Cycle 2, and all $2,337,633 went to one applicant, Facilitating Access to Coordinated Transportation. The board approved it January 24, 2025, with service starting in December 2025. Ventura County’s program shows the rider side. The commission contracts with Ventura Transit System for countywide WAV rides 24 hours a day, and the rider pays $2.50 a mile with no other fees. For setting a per-mile fare that riders pay themselves, see private pay NEMT.

The 2026-27 calendar and reporting

The CPUC’s Cycle 6 calendar, in the July 2026 program rules, sets these dates for 2026 money:

1. September 30, 2026. The CPUC sends funds to local administrators.
2. July 1, 2027. Each administrator must select providers, sign contracts, and commit the money.
3. June 30, 2028. The 2026 money must be paid out to providers.

The CPUC’s provider page says providers are selected by July 1 each year. Calls open before then on each agency’s own schedule. The Metropolitan Transportation Commission, new as administrator for Marin, Napa, San Mateo, Santa Clara, and Sonoma, says application details for its Cycle 6 call will come in fall 2026 and its programs will not start service until 2027.

Once funded, you report to your administrator every quarter, by October 30, January 30, April 30, and July 30. Reports cover:

• WAVs in operation, by hour of the day and day of the week.
• Trips requested, completed, not accepted, cancelled by the rider or driver, and no-shows.
• Response times for each tenth of completed trips, split into the time to accept a request and the time from acceptance to arrival.
• Outreach to disability communities, driver training, vehicle inspections, and complaints by type.
• Money spent, by eligible cost, and the terms of each contract.

How to apply, step by step

1. Find your administrator. Use the table above, or the statewide administrator if your county is not listed. The CPUC provider page lists each agency’s contact.
2. Confirm you are eligible. Hold a CPUC permit, or gather the background check, insurance, drug testing, Secretary of State, and CHP records for the non-permitted path.
3. Settle the exemption question for every van you will use, before you sign anything.
4. Pull your numbers. Count your WAVs by hour, your trip requests, and your response times for the past four quarters. A first-year applicant can give a narrative and estimates instead.
5. Write the proposal around the scoring. Show how you will cut response times, add WAV hours, reach disability groups, and take requests from riders without a smartphone.
6. Build the budget from the eligible cost list, and line up insurance certificates. SANDAG will not sign a grant agreement until its insurance requirements are met.
7. Track every cost from day one. Reimbursement programs pay only for documented costs after the notice to proceed, and quarterly reports are due 30 days after each quarter.