How to Become a Regional Center Transportation Vendor in California (2027)

How regional centers pay for rides

California’s Department of Developmental Services (DDS) funds services for people with intellectual and developmental disabilities through 21 nonprofit regional centers. Each center plans a person’s services with them and their family in an Individual Program Plan (IPP), then buys those services from approved vendors. Rides to day programs and other vendored services are one of those purchases.

A regional center may buy a ride only when the IPP includes it, the vendor has an approved rate, no public agency is already funded to provide it, and it is not part of the person’s day program (17 CCR 58510). Welfare and Institutions Code 4648.35 adds four limits:

• Public transit first. A center cannot fund private specialized rides for an adult who can safely use public transit that is available.
• Least costly mode. It funds the least expensive way to travel that meets the person’s needs.
• Lowest total cost. It funds rides to the lowest-cost vendor that meets the person’s needs, counting the program’s cost and the cost of getting there.
• Children at home. It funds rides for a child living with family only when the family documents that it cannot provide them.

The riders a center sends to a transportation company often need supervision, help with a wheelchair, or monitoring on the way, as one center’s 2024 request for proposals describes them. The work runs on regular weekday routes to and from programs. Vans used only for this work are also exempt from Public Utilities Commission charter rules, because Public Utilities Code 5353(i) names vehicles that carry developmentally disabled people for regional centers. If you plan to add other paid rides in the same vans, read the California TCP permit guide first.

Which service code to apply for

Title 17, section 54342 gives each type of vendor a service code. These are the transportation codes a company is likely to meet:

• 875, transportation company. The main code for a NEMT company. You need a current business license as a transportation company and proof of the liability insurance the vendoring regional center sets, and you carry people to and from day programs or other vendored services.
• 880, transportation additional component. For a day program or other primary service that drives its own clients with its own employees.
• 882, transportation assistant. A separate vendor who rides along to assist and monitor riders. Assistants meet the aide rules in 17 CCR 58520(b).
• 883, transportation broker. Builds routes and schedules, and may monitor quality and run safety reviews. Title 17 classifies a vendor as a broker only if it is not the transportation provider, and DDS’s transportation directive (October 28, 2025) says the broker does not provide transportation services.
• 885, medical transportation. For litter van, wheelchair van, and medical transportation providers that meet the Medi-Cal standards in Title 22, sections 51231 to 51231.2. These rides are paid at the Medi-Cal rate (17 CCR 58542).
• 890, transportation auto driver. An individual who drives, paid per mile at no more than the center pays its own staff for travel.
• 895, public transit, dial-a-ride, rental car, or taxi. Paid no more than the fare the public pays.

A NEMT company that wants to drive regional center routes applies under 875. Each type of service needs its own vendorization (17 CCR 54326), so a company that also wants to supply ride-along assistants applies for 882 separately.

The vendorization process, step by step

You are vendored once, by the regional center whose area includes your business address. DDS calls it the vendoring regional center. Once you are vendored, any other center can buy your service with the same vendor number, so you do not apply to each center you drive for (DDS vendorization FAQ). A business cannot be vendored by more than one center for the same service at the same location.

Since March 1, 2026, every new vendorization must be completed in the DDS Provider Directory, an online portal where you upload documents, message the center, and track your file (DDS directive D-2025-Regional Center Operations-004REV, March 27, 2026). The steps and clocks below come from the DDS vendorization page, last updated September 22, 2026.

1. Find your vendoring center. Use the DDS lookup to find the center for the county where your business is located. Los Angeles County is split among several centers by health district, so confirm with the center that serves your address there.
2. Create a Provider Directory profile and submit the minimum requirements for code 875. The center reviews them within 15 calendar days.
3. Submit the full application. Title 17, sections 54310 and 54311 ask for the Vendor Application (DS 1890) and the Applicant/Vendor Disclosure Statement (DS 1891): your legal name and tax ID, addresses, owners, the services you will provide, any subcontractors, and copies of every license or permit the service needs. A service Medi-Cal can pay for also needs the signed Home and Community-Based Services Provider Agreement. For code 875, include your business license and proof of insurance.
4. Fix anything missing. The center checks the file for completeness within 30 calendar days. If something is missing, you have 30 days to send it, and the center’s clock pauses meanwhile without resetting.
5. Get the decision. The center decides within 45 calendar days of a complete application. An approval comes with a vendor number and service code. A denial comes with appeal rights, and you must file an appeal within 30 days (17 CCR 54322).

A center must vendor an applicant who meets every requirement, and it cannot refuse because it thinks the service is not needed. But vendorization does not oblige any center to send you riders (DDS vendorization FAQ). Before you apply, ask the center’s community services staff where they are short of vehicles. Centers cannot refer riders or pay for rides before you are vendored. The one exception is emergency vendorization, for up to 45 days, when a person’s health or safety is at risk and no current vendor can help (17 CCR 54324).

Driver, aide, and vehicle rules

Title 17 sets the floor for code 875 and 880 vendors in sections 58520 to 58524. Your contract with a center can add more.

• Age and skills. Every driver and aide is at least 18 and able to use wheelchairs, lifts, ramps, and other boarding equipment.
• License and certificates. Every driver holds a valid California license, plus the special driver certificate under Vehicle Code 12523.6 and a medical certificate under Vehicle Code 12804 where they apply.
• Driving record. No DUI conviction in the five years before or during employment, and no reckless driving or speed contest conviction in the three years before or during employment.
• Privacy. Share a rider’s name, contacts, disabilities, medications, and allergies with the driver only when needed to keep the rider, driver, and other passengers safe.
• Refusing a ride. You may refuse to transport someone only when the ride would threaten someone’s health or safety. Tell the rider’s regional center within one working day, and send a written explanation within five working days.

The special driver certificate has its own CHP process. The CHP calls it the VDDP certificate, for vehicle for developmentally disabled persons. A driver needs it when driving people with developmental disabilities takes at least half of their work time or 20 hours a week, whichever is less. The driver books an interview with a CHP school bus officer at the local Area office, completes form CHP 295, and is fingerprinted for a Department of Justice check. The CHP’s processing manual (November 2025) lists a $57 fee for a first certificate, $25 for the certificate and $32 for fingerprints, and $12 to renew. It requires no training or test for this certificate, and a driver with a class C license does not need a medical examiner’s certificate for it.

Welfare and Institutions Code 4648.3 requires liability coverage for bodily injury, death, and property damage at the level each regional center sets, so the amount varies by center. North Los Angeles County Regional Center’s code 875 request for proposals, published April 29, 2024, asked for $5,000,000 combined single limit. Get the center’s insurance requirements in writing before you shop for coverage, and see NEMT insurance requirements for the coverage types.

Keep these records for three years: audit records, your contract, special incident reports, the CHP safety compliance rating if the CHP rates your terminal, maintenance records for every vehicle, and each driver’s license, DMV driving record (Traffic Point Count), and medical certificate (17 CCR 58523). Keep trip and billing records for five years after final payment for the state fiscal year, or until audit findings are resolved, whichever is longer (17 CCR 54326).

The charter exemption does not reach CHP bus rules. A vehicle built for more than 10 people, driver included, that carries people for pay is a bus under Vehicle Code 233, which covers the medium and large vehicles in the DDS rate categories below. The CHP inspects every bus operator’s terminal at least once every 13 months (Vehicle Code 34501).

How code 875 pays in 2026

Under DDS rate reform, codes 875, 880, 882, and 883 are paid from rate models DDS sets for each center, not rates negotiated one vendor at a time. Since March 1, 2026, code 875 pays in two parts, under DDS directive D-2026-Rate Reform-001REV (March 3, 2026):

• A vehicle rate for each vehicle’s first or only morning route (4:00 a.m. to 11:59 a.m.) and its first or only afternoon route (after noon), so at most two a day. It covers wages and benefits, supervision, and administration, and varies by center.
• A mileage rate for every mile the vehicle drives, from the moment it leaves your lot or storage site until it returns, so it includes your deadhead miles. You subtract miles not tied to the riders, such as lunch or fuel stops.

There are six mileage rates. A vehicle counts as small (10 passengers or fewer, driver included), medium (11 to 18), or large (19 or more), by the most passengers it was originally built to carry legally, and a vehicle with a wheelchair lift bills the non-ambulatory rate (D-2024-Rate Reform-006 REV2, October 28, 2025). Record odometer readings at the start and end of each trip, start and end times for each vehicle, and each rider’s attendance for every one-way trip in the center’s e-billing. Any change to a route, and any added vehicle, needs approval from the center or its transportation broker.

Code 875 rates by regional center

The vehicle rate is $166.94, $174.51, or $197.25 a route, depending on the center, and a small van earns $1.12 to $1.32 a mile. Medium vehicles pay $1.98 to $2.16 a mile, or $2.09 to $2.27 with a lift. Large vehicles pay $2.60 to $2.86 a mile, or $2.72 to $2.98 with a lift.

The table shows full rates for small vehicles, 10 passengers or fewer including the driver, in the files DDS posted on September 24, 2026, which include the IRS mileage increase DDS announced on September 16, 2026. The files list the vehicle rate as effective March 1, 2026 and the mileage rates as effective August 1, 2026.

Regional center	Per route	Small van, per mile	Small lift van, per mile
Alta California	$166.94	$1.12	$1.24
Central Valley	$166.94	$1.12	$1.24
East Bay	$197.25	$1.20	$1.32
Eastern Los Angeles	$174.51	$1.32	$1.43
Far Northern	$166.94	$1.12	$1.24
Frank D. Lanterman	$174.51	$1.32	$1.43
Golden Gate	$197.25	$1.32	$1.43
Harbor	$174.51	$1.26	$1.37
Inland	$166.94	$1.16	$1.27
Kern	$166.94	$1.12	$1.24
North Bay	$174.51	$1.20	$1.32
North Los Angeles County	$174.51	$1.26	$1.37
Orange County	$174.51	$1.20	$1.32
Redwood Coast	$166.94	$1.12	$1.24
San Andreas	$197.25	$1.20	$1.32
San Diego	$174.51	$1.20	$1.32
San Gabriel/Pomona	$174.51	$1.26	$1.37
South Central Los Angeles	$174.51	$1.32	$1.43
Tri-Counties	$174.51	$1.12	$1.24
Valley Mountain	$166.94	$1.12	$1.24
Westside	$174.51	$1.32	$1.43

What one van’s day pays

Take a hypothetical small van with a wheelchair lift, driving for Inland Regional Center. It runs one morning route and one afternoon route and drives 80 miles in all, from the garage and back. At full rates it bills 2 × $166.94 plus 80 × $1.27, or $435.48 for the day.

Full rates go to providers that meet the DDS Quality Incentive Program (QIP) requirements. Providers that have not are paid 90% of both rates. At Inland that is $150.25 a route and $1.14 a mile, which makes the same day $391.70. The mileage rate covers vehicle costs such as the purchase or lease, fuel, maintenance, insurance, and registration, so the center does not pay those separately.

The other transportation codes

In the same September 24, 2026 rate files:

• 880 pays per rider per one-way trip to or from the day program, up to two a day: $14.99 to $20.09, or $16.04 to $21.11 for non-ambulatory riders, depending on the center.
• 882 assistants bill by the hour while they are in the vehicle, at $33.34 to $39.20 an hour.
• 883 brokers bill $80.80 per rider per month, under the monthly model in use since November 1, 2025.

Whatever the code, the rate is payment in full. A vendor cannot bill the rider or family a supplement for an authorized ride (17 CCR 54326).

How centers choose transportation vendors

Vendorization makes you eligible, but a center still has to buy your service. Title 17 lets a center buy transportation through a competitive request for proposals, a negotiated contract, a cost statement, standardized rates, a standard rate schedule, or as temporary service for up to 90 days when a provider stops unexpectedly (17 CCR 58510 and 58541). Every written transportation contract lasts five years at most, makes routes and schedules subject to the center’s approval, states your liability coverage, and bars subcontracting without the center’s written approval (17 CCR 58524).

When a center buys by competitive procurement, sections 58530 to 58534 set the rules:

• Notice. The center publishes a notice in a local newspaper 10 to 90 days before the request comes out, and mails notice within 10 days to known providers in the area and anyone who asked to be told.
• Scoring. An evaluation committee of at least five people, most with transportation experience, scores the bids.
• Selection. The center picks the lowest bid, or the highest score where at least 75% of the points are based on price.
• Protests. Every request includes a written protest procedure for bidders who lose.

North Los Angeles County Regional Center’s code 875 request (published April 29, 2024) shows what a center asks for. It sought providers for up to 20 routes in the San Fernando Valley, mostly between 6:00 a.m. and 6:00 p.m. on weekdays, working with the center’s transportation broker, which handles scheduling, routing, and review of every invoice. Applicants needed transportation experience, experience with people with developmental disabilities, a business location in the center’s area, background checks for all staff, a transportation business license, good standing with the CHP and the Secretary of State, and the $5,000,000 insurance. Proposals included two years of independent audits, the CHP safety compliance rating, and a fleet description worth 30 of the 100 points.

To hear about the next one:

1. Ask each nearby center to add you to its notice list for transportation requests. Title 17 requires mailed notice to providers who ask.
2. Check each center’s website for bid notices.
3. Gather the bid file early. NLACRC asked for two years of audits, proof of insurance, and fleet maintenance records, which cannot be produced overnight. Government NEMT contracts covers how to build a bid.

Keeping your vendorization and earning the full rate

New vendors start at 90% of the rate. Under DDS directive D-2026-Quality Incentive Program-001 (February 11, 2026), a provider vendored on or after July 1, 2025 earns the incentive part of the rate for fiscal year 2026-27 with these steps:

1. Validate your listing. Register and validate your information in the Provider Directory.
2. Answer the survey. DDS sends the Initial QIP Provider Survey the month after your vendorization is validated. Submit it within 60 days. The incentive starts on the first day of a month that begins at least 30 days after you finish.
3. Settle electronic visit verification. Complete EVV self-registration, or have the center confirm you are exempt.
4. Meet the federal settings rule for home and community-based services, which your vendoring center reports to DDS.
5. File an audit or review when you reach the threshold. Providers paid $2,000,000 or more a fiscal year by regional centers need a financial audit by an outside accounting firm, and those paid $500,000 to under $2,000,000 need a financial review by one. Either is due within nine months after your fiscal year ends.

Title 17, section 54326 adds ongoing duties:

• Visits. Allow announced and unannounced visits from the center or DDS.
• Billing. Bill only rides the referring center authorized and you actually provided.
• Reporting. Report changes to your DS 1891 disclosure, the loss of any required license or certificate, and any conviction in the past ten years for fraud or abuse in a government program or for abuse or neglect of an elder, dependent adult, or child.
• No transfers. You cannot transfer your vendorization to another person or business.

Tell your vendoring center in writing at least 30 days before you move. A move into another center’s area means a new vendorization there (DDS vendorization FAQ).

The California state guide covers Medi-Cal enrollment and the health plan brokers. For how waiver programs in other states buy these rides, see waiver non-medical transportation. For running day program routes well, see adult day care transportation.