Non-Emergency Medical Transportation in Montgomery, AL: The City License and $30 Fare Cap (2027)

Montgomery wrote non-emergency rides into its vehicle-for-hire chapter on January 5, 2016, when Ordinance 1-2016 added a class called alternative transportation service, or ATS, to Chapter 6, Article VIII of the city code. An ATS company runs without a taximeter and charges a flat fare, and it meets the same license, insurance, and inspection rules the city sets for taxicabs.

The city’s Risk Management Department runs the applications for ATS companies, taxicab companies, and their drivers from its Safety Office at 103 North Perry Street, 334-625-3015, safety@montgomeryal.gov. Its page posts two packets: one for the ATS business license and one for each driver’s chauffeur’s license.

What Montgomery counts as alternative transportation

Section 6-419 defines an ATS as non-emergency transportation that may charge a flat rate of no more than $30 per one-way trip within the city limits. It names no vehicle type, seat count, or kind of rider. The taxicab definition, by contrast, leaves out any vehicle built for more than seven passengers and any common carrier under the Alabama Public Service Commission’s supervision.

The business license code also sends medical ride companies to the council. Section 16-105 lists NAICS 485991, elderly, disabled, and special needs transportation, which takes in non-emergency medical transportation other than ambulances. Its entry is marked “Requires Council Approval” and asks for a current background check from the Alabama Law Enforcement Agency (ALEA), no more than six months old, before the license issues.

What the $30 cap does to your prices

For a private-pay rider, the cap means a round trip inside the city tops out at $60. Section 6-419 sets no figure for a trip that leaves the city limits, and it says nothing about who pays. Before you accept more than $30 for a trip inside the city from Medicaid, a health plan’s ride vendor, or a dialysis center, ask Risk Management whether the cap applies and keep the answer in writing. To work out whether $30 covers what a trip costs you, see how much to charge for NEMT.

Rides outside the class

Ambulance service is a separate business license that needs its own council resolution under Section 6-2, and the NAICS 485991 entry leaves ambulance services out. A paid trip between Montgomery and a city whose limits or police jurisdiction do not touch Montgomery’s, or one that starts or ends outside every city’s limits and police jurisdiction, also needs passenger authority from the Public Service Commission.

Statewide, Alabama Medicaid runs its NET program without a broker, and riders choose their transporter from the program’s directory. The Alabama guide covers that approval, the commission’s rules, and how Medicaid pays.

How to get an ATS license in Montgomery

The code names these steps without a fixed order, so confirm the order with Risk Management before you pay for insurance or inspections.

1. Get the ATS business license packet from Risk Management. Ask at the same time how it wants your vehicles inspected.
2. Clear any city debts. Section 16-82 bars License and Revenue from issuing or renewing a license until everything you owe the city, fines included, is paid.
3. Get the ALEA background check the license code asks for, dated within the past six months.
4. Buy the insurance and file the policy with the director of finance, as described below.
5. Have every vehicle inspected by a third party under Risk Management’s process.
6. Set up your drug testing program before any driver carries a rider.
7. Wait for the council’s resolution. Section 6-365 lets the council grant a permit only if it finds the territory you will serve is not adequately served by existing public service automobiles and that public necessity and convenience call for it. The resolution may set conditions, and the council may revoke the permit for breaking them.
8. Buy the business license from License and Revenue, 25 Washington Avenue, third floor, 334-625-2036. As of July 2026, its forms page lists a Taxi / Alternative Transportation Business License Application Addendum, and new applicants show a current U.S. photo ID.
9. Get a permit for every driver before they carry anyone.

Birmingham and Huntsville also send each ride company to their city councils, but each runs its own process.

What the licenses cost

Section 16-105 puts NAICS 485991 on Schedule C of Section 16-106, last amended April 15, 2025: $132 a year on gross receipts up to $50,000, plus the $14 issue fee, with a higher tax on receipts above that. The same section’s Schedule S, though, prices “Ambulance Service, Alternative Transportation Vehicles” at $85 a vehicle plus the issue fee, so ask License and Revenue which schedule it will apply to your company. Division 2 has each driver hold a license from the director of finance, and Schedule U prices a chauffeur’s license at $75 per driver plus the issue fee.

A company that starts on or after July 1 pays half the annual license for that year. A business located outside the city limits but inside Montgomery’s police jurisdiction pays half the city rate. Licenses are due January 1 and delinquent after January 31.

Insurance and the yearly inspection

Section 6-366 requires a policy from an insurer authorized in Alabama, filed with the director of finance before the license issues, with at least:

• $50,000 for injury to one person
• $100,000 for all injuries in one accident
• $50,000 for property damage in one accident

Each vehicle needs its own policy, or one blanket policy that covers each vehicle separately. Keep proof of coverage in every vehicle and show it when Risk Management asks. The insurer must give the city clerk 30 days’ written notice before canceling, and if you have not filed a replacement policy with the director of finance by the cancellation date, your license is revoked. For how these limits compare with what brokers and facilities ask, see NEMT insurance requirements.

Under Section 6-363, every vehicle is inspected once a year by a third party, following the process Risk Management sets. The inspection covers 19 items: foot and emergency brakes, steering, the windshield, rear window, and other glass, wipers, headlights, tail lights, turn signals, stop lights, the front seat adjustment, doors, horn, speedometer, bumpers, muffler and exhaust, tires and tread depth, inside and outside mirrors, and seat belts and air bags for the driver and riders. Run through our vehicle inspection checklist before the appointment.

Driver permits and drug testing

Section 6-421 makes it unlawful to drive for an ATS company without a city permit under Division 2 of the article, the same permit taxicab drivers hold. Each driver:

• files a sworn application on Risk Management’s form
• is at least 18, clean in dress and person, and not addicted to alcohol or drugs
• is photographed and fingerprinted by the Montgomery Police Department
• tells Risk Management about any move to a new address while the permit is active

Risk Management investigates each applicant before approving a permit, and the director of finance issues the matching license. A driver turned down may appeal to the City Council. The council may also revoke a permit for repeated violations of the article or of traffic laws, on Risk Management’s recommendation at its next regular meeting.

Section 6-376 requires every ATS company to run a drug testing program for all employees in safety-sensitive jobs, including every driver, with pre-employment, random, post-accident, and probable cause tests. The code counts alcohol as a drug and accepts hair, urine, or breath tests. Keep the records ready for Risk Management or state and federal officials. NEMT driver drug testing explains how to set up a program and how long to keep the records.

Where you run the company from

Section 6-372 requires a taxicab business to keep a staffed place of business with off-street parking for its vehicles, outside any residence and in line with business zoning. Division 3 applies the taxicab license, insurance, and inspection rules to ATS companies without naming this one. If you plan to run the company from home, ask Risk Management whether the rule applies to you before you apply.

Where Montgomery’s Medicaid riders are approved

Alabama Medicaid’s NET coordinators list dated July 9, 2026 puts Montgomery County in the Montgomery District Office, which also covers Autauga, Elmore, and Bullock counties. The office is at the agency’s central office, 501 Dexter Avenue, 334-353-4778.

Call it and ask how it approves transporters for the NET directory. Finish the city steps first, because Montgomery bars paid rides without a council permit and a driver permit.