Miami-Dade For-Hire License for Wheelchair and Stretcher Companies (2027)

Miami-Dade licenses wheelchair and stretcher companies itself, and it does so vehicle by vehicle. Every van needs its own county certificate, every driver needs a county chauffeur registration, and every vehicle goes through the county’s own inspection station. The state steps, Medicaid enrollment with AHCA and the Level 2 screening for owners, are on the Florida guide.

Who issues the Miami-Dade for-hire license

The rules sit in chapter 4, article III of the county code, the Nonemergency Medical Transportation Ordinance of December 18, 1980. It covers anyone who carries people on stretchers or in wheelchairs, or whose condition makes a bus or taxi impractical, when they do not need medical care on the way. The county’s license page calls the permit a Non-Emergency Certificate, and the application offers four kinds: wheelchair, stretcher, combo, and specialty sedan.

The Passenger Transportation Regulatory Division of the Department of Transportation and Public Works (DTPW) handles it, at 601 NW 1st Court, 18th Floor, Miami, 786-469-2323. As of September 2026 the office is open weekdays from 8 a.m. to 4 p.m. and takes new and renewal applications until 3 p.m. You also need a Miami-Dade local business tax receipt, and your city may require its own license, per the license page.

Each certificate covers one vehicle (section 4-44). A three-van company holds three certificates and pays three annual fees.

Who approves it, and how long it takes

The code and the county’s own page describe two different paths. Section 4-44, as amended by Ordinance 21-49 on June 15, 2021, lets the department director approve or deny an application. The license page, as of September 2026, still says the Board of County Commissioners must approve after a committee public hearing, and that the process takes three to six months from the day you apply. Plan for the longer path, and ask the division which one applies when you file.

After approval and the certificate fee, the county issues a conditional certificate good for 90 days. You get the full certificate once you file proof of insurance and pass the vehicle inspection. Miss the 90 days and the approval is revoked (section 4-44(e)).

What goes in the application

The application is sworn and notarized. The instruction sheet asks for six attachments:

1. Your articles of incorporation or fictitious name registration.
2. Two credit references. One must be a bank letter addressed to the division director stating how long you have held the account and your creditworthiness. The second can be an unaffiliated business you have dealt with for more than a year, a credit bureau report, or other written proof that you pay your debts.
3. A balance sheet, preferably certified, or the last tax return of the company or its majority owner.
4. Proof of insurance of at least $100,000 per person and $300,000 per incident, plus $50,000 for property damage.
5. A color photo of your vehicle color scheme showing the business name and phone number.
6. Your proposed rates on company letterhead.

The form also asks for a management plan: your general manager’s experience, driver training, complaint handling, record keeping, accident handling, 24-hour phone access, radio system, vehicle maintenance, and how you screen ride requests. Every officer, director, partner, and anyone owning 5 percent or more lists any guilty or no contest plea or conviction from the last five years.

What it costs

Fee	Amount
Certificate application, per vehicle	$300
Background check, per person on the application	$25
Annual certificate fee, per vehicle, prorated the first year	$625
Transfer to another certificate holder	$150
Transfer to a company without a certificate	$300
New vehicle inspection	$70
Regular inspection (yearly, twice a year, or quarterly)	$38
Safety reinspection	$35

The certificate fees come from Implementing Order 4-136, effective October 9, 2017, and the inspection fees are the county’s as of September 2026. The county takes checks, money orders, and cashier’s checks, and cards for in-person renewals, but never cash.

Van rules and county inspections

Section 4-49 adds county vehicle standards on top of the state’s:

• Age. No van older than 15 model years may run.
• Inspection schedule. Yearly for vans 1 to 2 model years old, twice a year at 3 to 4 years, and every quarter at 5 to 15 years.
• Equipment. A working 2.5 pound ABC fire extinguisher, a mobile two-way radio that meets FCC standards (a CB radio does not count), and an electric or hydraulic lift or a ramp on every wheelchair van.
• Stretcher vans. At least 48 inches from finished floor to finished ceiling in the passenger area. See stretcher van requirements for how that compares elsewhere.
• Markings. Your name, phone number, and vehicle number permanently on the outside, and a county-approved color scheme that does not copy state ambulance colors. The license page bans decorative decals and full window wraps.

The For-Hire Vehicle Inspection Station is at 2615 NW 10th Avenue, Miami, 305-638-6051. Its schedule as of September 2026 takes new non-emergency vehicles only on Thursdays from 7:30 a.m. to noon, and reinspections on weekdays until 3 p.m. Call ahead, since the county’s For-Hire page lists new inspections every weekday morning. Bring the vehicle registration and your insurance certificate. A van that fails may not carry riders until it passes a reinspection.

The age rule shapes what you buy. A two-year-old van needs one county inspection a year, while a six-year-old van needs four.

Operating rules once you hold a certificate

These rules in sections 4-44 to 4-48 catch new companies most often:

• An office in the county. Keep a central place of business in Miami-Dade with a listed phone, where your records and daily manifests are kept, and answer the phone 24 hours a day. The division may inspect your records on five days’ notice.
• Insurance on file for each van. File a certificate of insurance for every vehicle on the county’s form (section 4-48). The county accepts no policy shorter than six months, the policy must give the county 30 days’ notice by registered mail before any change or cancellation, and a lapse suspends that van’s certificate automatically.
• Manifests. Record the driver, vehicle number, date, time, origin, destination, number of passengers, and fare for every trip, on a county-approved trip sheet. Keep them three years. A trip log that captures these fields covers it.
• Rates on file. Your public rates start as the ones in your application. To change them, file the new rate 30 days ahead and post it in each vehicle 15 days ahead. A contract rate takes effect only once the signed contract is filed with the county, so ask the division whether it wants your broker agreements on file.
• Stretcher trips. Book them at least one hour ahead, confirm with the person requesting the ride that a stretcher van can carry the rider safely, keep that record on the county form, and run at least 10 straight hours of service on each day you operate.
• Advertising. Every ad must say plainly that you do not provide medical care.
• Use it or lose it. Renew each certificate by January 1. By December 31, certify how many months each vehicle ran. A certificate expires on its own if the vehicle ran fewer than 9 months of the prior year.

Fines start at $25 per violation. Running a wheelchair or stretcher van without a certificate carries a fine of $100 to $500, up to 10 days in jail, or both.

Drivers: the for-hire chauffeur registration

Every driver of a non-emergency vehicle needs a county chauffeur registration under chapter 31, article V (section 4-45). The minimum age is 18. Drivers apply in person, Monday to Friday from 8 a.m. to 2 p.m., at 601 NW 1st Court, 18th Floor, and bring:

• Proof of the right to work in the United States and a valid Florida driver’s license.
• A physical examination.
• A 4-hour defensive driving certificate, required of new applicants.
• A Passenger Assistance Techniques certificate for wheelchair vans.

New drivers take a one-day class, the Academy for Chauffeur Excellence and Service, and pass an exam, which can be retaken for $15. The class is taught in English and opens with an English test, and since August 1, 2022 the non-emergency manual and exam come in English, Spanish, and Creole. The office books each new driver into the next class when they apply, and the Chauffeur Training Program at 786-469-2356 answers questions about it.

A new registration costs $102 for one year or $157 for two, and a renewal $65 or $120, per the application revised November 2024. A late renewal adds $55. A registration expires on the driver’s birthday and can be renewed up to 90 days early, with an updated physical. Under section 4-50, the county suspends a registration automatically if the driver is convicted of or pleads to a felony, or the state suspends or revokes the driver’s license.

Who sends the rides in Miami-Dade

Miami-Dade and Monroe form Medicaid Region I (section 409.966 of the Florida Statutes). Members in a health plan ride with their plan’s broker, and members outside a plan ride with Modivcare. The table shows each plan’s members in the county as of August 31, 2026, and the broker AHCA’s second quarter 2026 report lists for it.

Health plan	Members in Miami-Dade	Ride broker
Simply Healthcare	82,486	Ride2MD
Sunshine Health	66,650	Alivi
Molina Healthcare	54,196	MTM Health
UnitedHealthcare Community Plan	50,865	MTM Health, since March 1, 2026
Aetna Better Health	44,423	Modivcare
Humana	43,656	Modivcare
Community Care Plan	4,804	Modivcare
Florida Community Care	4,670	Ride2MD

Another 33,698 children in the county were in the Children’s Medical Services Plan, which the report lists with MTM Health and which moves from Sunshine to Molina on October 1, 2026. With eight plans and four brokers splitting the county, a company that joins one broker sees only part of its Medicaid riders. See working with multiple brokers.

The brokers already have large networks here. The state’s 2025 capacity count in its NEMT waiver listed 612 vehicles in Modivcare’s Miami-Dade network (319 ambulatory, 273 wheelchair, 20 stretcher) and 256 in MTM’s (67 cab, 180 lift, 9 stretcher). Stretcher vans were the smallest group in both.

The Transportation Disadvantaged program works differently here

DTPW is also the county’s Community Transportation Coordinator, redesignated by the state commission on June 11, 2026 for July 1, 2026 to June 30, 2031. Riders call 305-630-5300.

It does not hire ride companies to drive its trips. The state’s report for fiscal 2024-25 counted 1,843,821 trips in the county: 1,443,906 on buses with passes the program paid for, and 399,915 by 32 coordination contractors, with no paid transportation operators at all. Those contractors are agencies such as Allapattah Community Action, The ARC of South Florida, Better Way of Miami, and Borinquen Health Care Center, which carry their own clients under a Coordination and Fare Agreement.

The agreement template in the county’s July 2024 service plan says neither the state commission nor the county must pay the agency for its trips. It asks for workers’ compensation, $300,000 of general liability with the county as additional insured, $300,000 combined auto liability, and drug and alcohol testing for drivers and other safety-sensitive staff. The county’s local coordinating board approves the agreements once a year. Of the 32 contractors in 2024-25, the state counted 30 private nonprofits, one city, and one for-profit company.

The county’s ADA paratransit service, Special Transportation Service (STS), is separate. Chapter 31, article IV of the code gives STS certificates only to carriers under contract with the county, or with its STS broker, to drive transit trips. The county says that certificate usually takes two to four weeks.

What to do first

1. Call the division at 786-469-2323 and ask which approval path applies now and how long current applications are taking.
2. Get your local business tax receipt from the county, and ask your city whether it needs a license too.
3. Buy vans you can keep. Stay well under 15 model years, since a newer van needs fewer inspections.
4. Insure at the highest limit you face. The certificate needs $100,000, $300,000, and $50,000, and health plan work sets higher limits, listed on the Florida guide.
5. File one application per van with all six attachments, and budget $300 each plus $25 for every person screened.
6. Book your drivers’ chauffeur class while the certificate is pending, so they are registered by the time your van passes inspection.
7. Enroll with Florida Medicaid and apply to the brokers that match the plan mix above.

A company licensed only in Broward County may drop off riders in Miami-Dade, but it needs this certificate to pick them up here. The Keys, the other half of Region I, are on the Monroe County page.