AlohaCare Transportation: Transdev Rides, the 14-Day Travel Request, and Who Gets Which Ride

AlohaCare is a nonprofit health plan started in 1994 by Hawaii’s community health centers, and it covers QUEST Integration members on Oahu, Kauai, Molokai, Lanai, Maui, and Hawaii Island. It had 67,125 Medicaid members in June 2026, down from 68,432 in January. Transdev Health Solutions manages every AlohaCare ride: reservations, scheduling, dispatch, trip monitoring, and claims. IntelliRide, a Transdev company, took over the benefit in 2021, with call center service from February 15 and rides from March 1. Your PUC certificate and Med-QUEST enrollment are statewide steps in the Hawaii guide, and Transdev’s driver, vehicle, and insurance rules are on the Transdev Health Solutions page.

How AlohaCare members book rides

Medicaid members call Transdev at (808) 973-0712 or (877) 973-0712 and choose option 2, TTY (877) 447-5990. Agents take bookings Monday through Friday from 7:45 a.m. to 5 p.m. Hawaii time, at least 48 hours before the trip. AlohaCare’s Medicare members book on their own line, (808) 973-6395.

Phone bookings stop when the agents go home. The after-hours line, (808) 763-2101 option 1, lets a member check on a ride or cancel it, and a caller on a weekend or holiday is told to call back the next business day. Transdev also runs an online self-service portal and a phone app where members, and family or caregivers they authorize, can book, change, and cancel rides; its Book a Ride page says the portal works around the clock. Transdev’s reservation center closes on New Year’s Day, Memorial Day, Independence Day, Labor Day, Thanksgiving, and Christmas, but trips already set for those days still run.

Faster bookings Transdev allows

The 48-hour rule bends in two cases:

• Recent discharges. A member discharged from a hospital within the past 3 days gets an exception.
• Urgent trips. Visits a doctor calls urgent, dialysis, wound care, chemotherapy, and radiation can be booked on shorter notice. Transdev confirms the appointment with the doctor’s office before it books the ride, and AlohaCare’s handbook warns that an appointment it cannot confirm may go unscheduled.

Clinics book for their patients on the same reservation lines. For anything else, Transdev’s facilities department answers at 808-237-2952, option 1, with fax 808-207-0047.

Your company’s name on the booking

When a member books, Transdev asks for the name of their preferred transportation provider, if they have one. The Travel Request Form asks the same about ground rides and says the choice is not guaranteed. Still, a member who rides with you often can ask for you by name.

On the day of the trip, Transdev tells members the driver waits up to 15 minutes, and that a will-call return can take up to 60 minutes after they call. A member whose ride is more than 15 minutes late calls Transdev, not your company. Transdev’s member page tells riders not to call the transportation company directly, because Transdev logs the time and sends the closest vehicle, which may not be yours. The one exception it names is TheCab, whose riders call TheCab’s dispatch at (808) 422-2222.

Which ride each AlohaCare member gets

AlohaCare starts every member at the least costly ride that works and moves them up only with a reason. The 2026 member handbook and Transdev’s member page set the ladder:

• Bus pass. The default for members who can walk half a mile to a bus stop from home or the appointment without an escort. A member who wants another ride needs a medical necessity form from their doctor, and until AlohaCare approves it, the member takes the bus.
• Handi-Van or other paratransit. For members their island’s paratransit has approved. Transdev mails Handi-Van coupons for trips it books.
• Taxi. For members with no family help who cannot use the bus or paratransit, and who either have no car or have an urgent need such as a hospital discharge. A member who uses a wheelchair qualifies only if they can transfer into the taxi.
• Wheelchair van or stretcher. When a medical provider, caregiver, or discharge case manager confirms the member needs a gurney or cannot leave a wheelchair. Members ride in their own wheelchair, and stretcher riders need no monitoring.

Door-to-door help, where the driver walks the member from their door to the clinic door, also requires a medical necessity form on file. Transdev bars the driver from going through the door, riding an elevator, or helping the member through the doors that lead to the check-in desk.

What the medical necessity form tells you

AlohaCare’s form is signed by a medical provider, such as a physician, physician assistant, or nurse practitioner. Besides the ride type, it flags details that change how you run the trip: an escort for the whole ride (every member under 18 needs one), a wheelchair used outside the vehicle, a walker, whether the member has an elevator, and “no multi-loading” for members who cannot share the vehicle. Read those notes on every new standing trip. See medical necessity forms for how these forms work elsewhere.

Escorts, standing orders, and trips AlohaCare does not cover

Children through age 18 may bring one escort. A member 19 or older needs a certification from their primary care doctor that they need help, such as for blindness, deafness, dementia, or a developmental disability, and Transdev approves it. Only one approved escort rides on any trip, even though the medical necessity form has a box for two. If a wheelchair rider needs help, the escort must be 21 or older, and Transdev does not provide escorts. See escorts and caregivers.

Recurring rides, such as dialysis, need a medical necessity form with a start and an end date. Transdev’s standing order form lists the days, appointment and return times, treatment type (dialysis, chemotherapy, radiation, adult day care, or mental health), the level of service, and whether the member can sign the driver’s log. Clinics fax it to 808-207-0047. For setting these up on your side, see NEMT standing orders.

AlohaCare’s 2026 handbook lists trips it does not cover:

• Trips to a pharmacy or a dental appointment
• Trips to an SSI determination exam
• Trips to clubhouses, day habilitation, or life skills training
• Side trips, such as shopping or picking up supplies or people
• Trips that needed prior authorization and did not get it

Dental rides for QUEST members go through Community Case Management Corp instead, at 808-792-1070 on Oahu or 1-888-792-1070 toll free. Members who live in an assisted living facility, a community care foster family home, or an expanded adult residential care home may not be able to use the ride benefit at all, though AlohaCare approves some special cases.

Inter-island and mainland travel

Every non-emergency trip off the member’s island needs AlohaCare’s approval in advance. The doctor’s office sends the Travel Request Form at least 14 days before travel, by fax to 808-237-2957 or 808-207-0047. An expedited review needs a physician’s signature saying the standard wait could seriously harm the member. AlohaCare first checks whether a similar provider practices on the member’s own island, and if one does, it refuses the trip. A member who books their own flight pays for it.

The form, revised April 2022, shows what an approved trip can include:

• Air or ferry, one way or round trip, with lodging and a wheelchair-accessible room when needed.
• Height and weight for Mokulele flights to Molokai and Lanai.
• A companion, who needs a medical necessity form and adds 24 hours to the review.
• Ground rides, off-island and on the home island, with a box for the preferred transportation provider.
• Mobility needs: wheelchair, the member’s own wheelchair and its type, gurney, and whether the member can transfer.

The preferred provider box is where a van company’s name goes. Ask the clinics that send patients off-island to write your company there, knowing the form says the choice is not guaranteed. Mainland trips also need AlohaCare’s authorization at least 14 days ahead, and AlohaCare schedules the flight, lodging, and ground rides itself. Med-QUEST’s statewide travel rules, such as appointment times for one-day trips, are in the Hawaii guide.

Mileage reimbursement instead of a ride

AlohaCare pays 50 cents a mile to a friend, neighbor, or relative who drives a member, under instructions dated July 28, 2025. The member books the trip through Transdev first, which gives a trip number and the round-trip miles. The driver supplies a license, registration, proof of insurance, and a W-9. One form covers up to six trips for one driver, the clinic signs it at the visit, and it goes to Transdev’s claims office in Omaha or to us.ths.hiclaims@transdev.com within 45 days of the trip. Payment can take up to 60 days. The handbook adds parking and tolls for approved trips. See mileage reimbursement for how this compares with a paid ride.

How a ride company gets AlohaCare trips

Transdev is the only door. It asks for a Med-QUEST provider ID and an approved Hawaii Public Utilities Commission docket (taxi companies follow county rules instead), then an interest form, driver and vehicle credentialing, and its own vehicle inspection. Transdev seeks every mode, from wheelchair vans to sedans and taxis, on all six islands, and the Transdev page walks through each step.

Two 2026 changes can add riders. ʻOhana Health Plan leaves QUEST after December 31, 2026, and its members who move to AlohaCare on January 1, 2027 become AlohaCare riders booked through Transdev, as the ʻOhana exit story explains. AlohaCare was also awarded the contract for Community Care Services, the behavioral health program for adults with serious mental illness, on April 8, 2026, and claims for services from November 1, 2026 go to AlohaCare. Med-QUEST lists accessible transportation among that program’s services, so if you drive those members, ask Transdev before November 1 who will book their rides. Riders on HMSA stay with Modivcare, as the Modivcare Hawaii page shows.

Who to call

For	Contact
A Medicaid member’s ride	Transdev, (808) 973-0712 or (877) 973-0712, option 2
A Medicare member’s ride	Transdev, (808) 973-6395
Checking on or canceling a ride after hours	(808) 763-2101, option 1
Clinics and facilities	Transdev facilities department, 808-237-2952, option 1
Travel requests	Fax 808-237-2957 or 808-207-0047
Medical necessity and standing order forms	Fax 808-207-0047
Joining the network	Transdev provider line, (808) 237-2953, extension 1
Dental rides	Community Case Management Corp, 808-792-1070