NYS Article 19-A for Ambulette Drivers in 2027: Registration, Yearly Reviews, and the July 1 Affidavit

Article 19-A is the part of New York’s Vehicle and Traffic Law that sets special rules for bus drivers. It dates from 1974, after a 1972 school bus and train crash near Congers, and the Department of Motor Vehicles (DMV) runs it through its Bus Driver Unit and Part 6 of the Commissioner’s Regulations. For an ambulette company it is a standing calendar: one registration, then reviews every 12 and 24 months for each driver and one affidavit due every July 1.

Why ambulette drivers fall under Article 19-A

Section 509-a of the Vehicle and Traffic Law defines a bus to include any vehicle a carrier controls that needs New York State Department of Transportation (NYSDOT) approval to carry passengers as a common or contract carrier. An ambulette company needs exactly that approval, a NYSDOT common carrier certificate or contract carrier permit. So in the eyes of the law your ambulettes are buses and the people who drive them are bus drivers. Mechanics who move an empty bus and volunteers who drive passengers fewer than 30 days a year are left out.

Medicaid ties your pay to it. The state’s Medicaid Transportation Policy Manual (effective August 25, 2023) says ambulette drivers must be qualified under Article 19-A. For Medicaid, the rule covers trips in ambulette vehicles: the manual lets an ambulette company use sedans and minivans for livery-level trips without 19-A drivers or NYSDOT inspections. To enroll an ambulette company (category of service 0602), eMedNY asks for a DMV letter of compliance with Article 19-A dated on or after the most recent July 1, as of October 2026. The New York guide covers NYSDOT authority, enrollment, and the broker. This page covers the driver side.

The license your drivers need

Section 501 bars Class D and Class E licenses from any vehicle that is a bus under section 509-a, and it requires a passenger (P) endorsement to drive one. DMV’s license class chart, as of October 2026, puts vehicles of 26,000 pounds or less that carry passengers under Article 19-A in Class C, a commercial class. DMV’s 19-A guide (CDL-15, February 2026) puts it plainly: every driver who operates a bus for you must hold a commercial driver license (CDL) with a passenger endorsement.

A driver can hold a Class C CDL at 18, and section 509-b sets 18 as the 19-A minimum. DMV’s Part 6 rules require 21 for any driver in interstate commerce, so a driver under 21 stays on trips inside New York. Anyone adding a P endorsement for the first time must finish federal entry-level driver training with a provider on the federal Training Provider Registry before the CDL road test, a rule since February 7, 2022 (49 CFR 380.609). Budget that time when you hire. For how other states draw the license line, see do NEMT drivers need a CDL.

How to register your company with the Bus Driver Unit

You register once, then add each driver. DMV’s CDL-15 guide (February 2026) lays out the order:

1. Choose your carrier type. An ambulette company with NYSDOT authority is a non-school motor carrier. Form DS-879 also has an Ambulette/Paratransit box to check. If you also run school transportation, choose the school and non-school type instead, and drivers of a school carrier must be fingerprinted.
2. Complete form DS-879, the Article 19-A Carrier Application. It asks for your federal employer ID number and your NYSDOT number. Fill in the liaison section to join the online 19-A system, where you add and drop drivers in real time, get daily email notices about them, and file your yearly affidavit.
3. Complete form DS-19 to open the escrow account that pays for DMV’s accident and conviction notices about your drivers. Page 2 is a federal Driver’s Privacy Protection Act certification, and it must be notarized. Make the check out to “Commissioner of Motor Vehicles”.
4. Complete form DS-870, the Bus Driver Application, for each driver. You and the driver both sign it. Keep the original in the driver’s file.
5. Send the forms and a copy of the escrow check to the Bus Driver Unit at busdriverunit@dmv.ny.gov or by fax to 518-474-0593. Mail the check and DS-19 to the address on the form: Bus Driver Unit, 6 Empire State Plaza, Room 331, Albany, NY 12228.
6. Wait for the acknowledgment letter. It confirms you met the registration rules and gives your 19-A Business ID number. Online filers get their login by email.
7. Add a certified examiner on form DS-885CE within 10 days of hiring one. You need at least one for every 100 drivers.

The opening escrow deposit depends on how many drivers you enroll, according to form DS-19 (May 2026):

Drivers you enroll	Opening deposit
0 to 25	$10
26 to 65	$25
66 to 115	$40
116 to 225	$50
More than 225	$70

Only a DMV certified examiner (or a DMV license examiner) may give the defensive driving observation, the road test, and the written or oral test. Under Part 6 (February 2021 edition), an examiner needs at least two years of experience training and evaluating drivers, a DMV-approved course or a four-credit college driver education course, and 18 months driving that type of vehicle for a 19-A carrier within the last three years. They also need no more than six points in 18 months, must pass written, vision, and road tests, and attend a DMV seminar every three years. An owner or lead driver who meets these rules can serve as your examiner.

What to do before and after you hire a driver

Section 509-d, Part 6, and CDL-15 require these before you hire a driver:

• Driving records from every state where the driver lived, worked, or held a license or permit in the last three years. The abstract must be dated within one year before the hire date, which DMV counts as the day you add the driver to the 19-A system. Send DMV a copy of any out-of-state record within 10 days of getting it. See motor vehicle record for what an abstract shows.
• A medical exam on form DS-874 or the federal form MCSA-5875, dated within two years before the hire date. It must be done by a physician, osteopath, physician assistant, or certified nurse practitioner who is not the driver’s own provider, and DMV does not accept chiropractors. An MCSA-5875 exam must come from an examiner on the federal National Registry. A diabetic driver also needs form DS-704 from their own provider every six months.
• Three years of work history, reviewed and kept on file.
• The license check. Confirm the class, the P endorsement, and any restrictions.

Then, after the hire:

• Form DS-870 within 10 days of hire. Part 6 classifies each new driver as conditional for up to 90 days from hire while DMV reviews the record. DMV then tells you whether the driver is qualified or disqualified.
• A road test within 30 days of hire if, in the past year, the driver did not drive for a 19-A carrier or drove a lower class of vehicle than yours. If the driver drove the same or a higher class for a 19-A carrier in the past year, the next road test is due two years after the last one, or within 30 days if you cannot get a copy of it.

Do not let the 10 days slip. The Office of the Medicaid Inspector General (OMIG) ambulette audit protocol, revised July 22, 2026, disallows any claim where the driver had been employed more than 10 days and was not on your DMV 19-A carrier driver roster on the date of service.

What disqualifies a driver

Section 509-c sets the list. In short, a driver is disqualified:

• Permanently for certain sex offenses the section lists. DMV may waive it five years after release from prison if the driver holds a certificate of relief from disabilities or of good conduct.
• For five years after a drunk or drugged driving conviction while driving a bus, two such convictions within ten years, leaving the scene of a crash that injured or killed someone, certain vehicular assault and manslaughter convictions, and a few other listed crimes.
• For one year after nine or more license points in 18 months. An accident prevention course that brings the total under nine ends it.
• For as long as any license or permit stays suspended, revoked, or denied. A suspension for drunk or drugged driving disqualifies for at least six months.

A driver disqualified this way needs a written requalification letter from the Bus Driver Unit, and Part 6 bars you from letting them drive until DMV tells you they are requalified.

Article 19-A also binds the driver directly. Section 509-l bars any alcohol or drugs within six hours before duty. Under section 509-i, a driver must tell you of a license suspension or revocation, or of a misdemeanor or felony conviction, by the end of the next business day. Traffic convictions and crashes must be reported within five working days. Drivers can use form DS-871 for these notices, and a driver who misses a deadline faces a suspension of at least five working days. Pair this with a background check and the broker’s own screening.

The 12-month and 24-month cycle for every driver

Each driver runs on their own dates, counted from the hire date or from the last time the task was done. CDL-15 (February 2026) sets the schedule:

Task	When it is due	Form
Driving record abstract	12 months after the last one	NYS abstract, plus other states
Record review and interview	12 months after hire, then yearly	DS-872
Defensive driving observation	12 months after hire, then yearly	DS-873
Medical exam	24 months after the last one	DS-874 or MCSA-5875
Behind-the-wheel road test	24 months after the last one	DS-875
Oral or written test	24 months after hire, then every 2 years	DS-875Q
Diabetic follow-up	Every 6 months	DS-704

A few rules trip up small carriers:

• The review uses a fresh abstract. Its print date can be no more than 30 days before the interview, and the interview cannot be dated before the print date. You and the driver both sign the DS-872, and the abstract is attached to it.
• The observation happens with passengers aboard. The road test happens without them, in the highest class of vehicle the driver will drive for you. The two can never be done on the same day.
• The written test is open book and untimed. Give the driver the state driver’s manual, the commercial driver’s manual, and Part 6, in a monitored room.
• The driver’s own yearly list. Section 509-f also has each driver give you, every 12 months, a list of traffic convictions and crashes from the past year.

You can order abstracts by mail on form MV-15C, at a DMV office, through a DMV record search account, or through DMV’s License Event Notification Service (LENS). Keep every form, medical, and DMV letter in a paper file for each active and inactive driver for the current year and the past three years, with a roster of drivers for the same period. The driver file checklist has a place for each item.

The July 1 affidavit and your company calendar

Every carrier files an Annual Affidavit of Compliance (form DS-3) and a Motor Carrier Annual Statistical Report (form DS-3.3) with the Bus Driver Unit by July 1. The statistical report covers the previous calendar year: the qualified bus miles your vehicles drove and your drivers’ total accidents and convictions. Around April, DMV sends the forms by mail, or by email if you file online, along with your roster of drivers on file. Online filers must file online.

DMV’s instructions (form DS-3.1, March 2025) add three rules that matter:

• Fix the roster first. Correct any wrong names or addresses on it, and send a DS-885 for each driver who left and a DS-870 for each new one.
• The filing date is the day DMV accepts it, not the day you send it. DMV sends an acknowledgment once it accepts the affidavit, or a letter listing the corrections it needs.
• The penalty is real. Without an acceptable affidavit by July 1, DMV may suspend your vehicle registrations and your right to operate in New York, and fine you $500 to $2,500. A false statement on the affidavit is a class A misdemeanor.

The date matters for Medicaid too: eMedNY accepts only a DMV compliance letter dated on or after the most recent July 1, so a letter from before this year’s July 1 no longer counts once the deadline passes. If you are enrolling or will send enrollment papers soon, ask the Bus Driver Unit for a current letter of compliance once DMV accepts your affidavit.

A workable year for a small ambulette company:

1. Every week, read DMV’s notices about your drivers and check each driver’s next due dates.
2. Within 10 days of any change, file a DS-870 for a new driver, a DS-885 for a driver who leaves or returns, and a DS-885CE for an examiner who starts or leaves.
3. In April, open the affidavit packet, reconcile the roster against your payroll, and close any overdue reviews.
4. By July 1, have the affidavit and statistical report accepted, not just sent.
5. After acceptance, file the acknowledgment with your Medicaid papers and get a new compliance letter if eMedNY or the broker asks for one.

What happens if you fall behind

DMV reviews each carrier’s driver files at least once every three years, and it has run these reviews electronically since September 2017. Its process, as described in CDL-15:

1. You get an email with a link to a web form listing the drivers under review.
2. You have 20 days to upload a list of all active drivers and the documents asked for. A reminder comes after 10 days.
3. DMV closes the review with a Found Acceptable notice or a warning, or sends preliminary findings if it finds violations.
4. Preliminary findings give you 10 more days to send missing or late documents. After that, the final report stands.

Missing documents can bring immediate disqualification of drivers, suspension of your vehicle registrations, and administrative charges. DMV’s Article 19-A page, as of October 2026, puts civil penalties at $500 to $2,500 per violation, and up to $5,000 per violation for a repeat offender. Under section 509-j, a fine not paid within 20 days of the order can lead DMV to revoke or suspend your registrations.

The Medicaid side can cost more. Every ambulette trip by a driver who was not qualified, or not on your roster after 10 days, is a claim OMIG can take back in an audit. See Medicaid audits for NEMT for how those reviews run. Questions about charges, penalties, suspensions, or disqualified drivers go to DMV’s 19-A Compliance Unit at 518-474-9477. Registration and form questions go to the Bus Driver Unit at 518-473-9455.

When a driver leaves, takes leave, or you close

Part 6 of DMV’s regulations sets the deadlines, all counted from the date of the change:

• A driver leaves for good. File a DS-885 within 10 days.
• A driver takes a leave that will cause missed reviews. File a DS-885 within 10 days of the start of the leave.
• A driver comes back. File a DS-885 within 10 days and finish any reviews that came due during the leave within 30 days. A medical exam that came due during the leave must be done before the driver drives again. A driver who has not worked for any carrier for at least a year needs a road test within 30 days of rehire.
• A driver transfers in from another carrier. You still file a DS-870 within 10 days. If you get the driver’s 19-A records from the former employer, the driver keeps their existing review dates.

Tell the Bus Driver Unit about any change of address, phone, carrier type, or online liaison. A new liaison needs written permission from the owner. If you close, send an out-of-business letter, drop every driver and examiner, return the plates for your 19-A vehicles, and cancel your NYSDOT authority. Carriers that close without telling DMV can still get a records review and civil penalties.