# St. Lucie County Paratransit: Area Regional Transit, Its One Operator, and Where Private Companies Fit

Canonical URL: https://nemtguide.com/states/florida/st-lucie-county/ · Updated 2026-10-02

St. Lucie County paratransit is the free door-to-door service of Area Regional Transit, run by the county commission as the state's Transportation Disadvantaged coordinator. Riders book at 772-462-1778. One company, MV Transportation, drives it under a contract the county rebid in 2025. Private companies get work through Direct Connect, the after-hours program, or by carrying their own clients under a coordination agreement.

- MV Transportation runs fixed routes, paratransit, and microtransit under one county contract, awarded again in September 2025 after a national bid.
- Direct Connect, the after-hours program, is the county service built on outside carriers, and its dialysis demand has outgrown its money.
- County contracts ask for $1,000,000 in coverage per occurrence, five times the state per-person floor.
- The county code requires a certificate of transportation for passenger carriers in the unincorporated area, so ask before you run broker trips.
- The county system billed no trips to Medicaid in 2024-25. Medicaid work runs through Modivcare, Alivi, and Ride2MD.

## St. Lucie County NEMT at a glance

| Fact | Details |
| --- | --- |
| Coordinator | St. Lucie County Board of County Commissioners, through its Transit Department, 2300 Virginia Ave., Fort Pierce. Coordinator since 1990; its current state agreement took effect July 1, 2023. |
| Ride line and fares | 772-462-1778. Free to riders. Book at least 24 hours and up to two weeks ahead, weekdays 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. |
| Operator | MV Transportation, the only contracted operator since July 1, 2020. Picked again in September 2025 from seven proposals. |
| Contract insurance | $1,000,000 per occurrence in operator and coordination contracts (2026 evaluation), above the state floor of $200,000 and $300,000 |
| State rate, 2026-27 | $38.17 an ambulatory trip and $40.68 a wheelchair trip, approved by the Local Coordinating Board on May 6, 2026 |
| Coordination contractors | An Answer to Care, the Council on Aging of St. Lucie, and United Veterans of St. Lucie County sent 2026-27 paperwork |
| Trips, 2024-25 | 228,927 (127,749 medical) on 79 vehicles with 89 drivers, at $37.75 a trip. None were paid by Medicaid. |
| County van certificate | Code chapter 12, article VI: a Class A certificate for the company and a Class B for each driver in the unincorporated county |
| Medicaid | Region G. Modivcare books rides for members outside a plan. Sunshine Health had 23,670 of the county's 49,147 main-plan members on August 31, 2026. |

## Who arranges rides here

- [St. Lucie County Transit Department](https://www.stlucieco.gov/departments-and-services/area-regional-transit): County coordinator; holds the operator contract, Direct Connect, and the coordination agreements. (772) 462-1798
- Area Regional Transit ride line: Books paratransit rides (press 1); press 4 for comments and complaints. (772) 462-1778
- St. Lucie Transportation Planning Organization: Staffs the Local Coordinating Board that reviews the county as coordinator each year. (772) 462-1593
- [Modivcare, Florida fee-for-service](https://www.modivcare.com/transportation-providers-contact-us/): Books Medicaid rides for Region G members who are not in a health plan. (866) 726-1457

St. Lucie County paratransit is one piece of Area Regional Transit (ART), the county's fare-free transit system, and it is organized unlike the two counties next door. The county commission is its own coordinator, and a single contractor runs the buses, the microtransit vans, and the door-to-door paratransit under one contract. For a wheelchair or ambulatory van company, the useful question is which smaller doors stay open around that contract, and what the county asks of anyone who walks through them.

ART paratransit carries ADA riders and riders in the Transportation Disadvantaged program, Florida's state-funded service for people who cannot drive or buy a ride because of age, disability, or income, which each county runs through one [community transportation coordinator](https://nemtguide.com/glossary/community-transportation-coordinator/). Medicaid enrollment, background screening, and the state's vehicle rules are in the [Florida guide](https://nemtguide.com/states/florida/).

## Who runs paratransit in St. Lucie County

The St. Lucie County Board of County Commissioners has been the coordinator since 1990 and does the work through its Transit Department at 2300 Virginia Avenue in Fort Pierce. The state commission kept the county in the role in 2023, and its current five-year agreement took effect on July 1, 2023. The St. Lucie Transportation Planning Organization (TPO) is the planning agency. Its staff run the Local Coordinating Board, which evaluates the county every spring with mystery riders and phone surveys of passengers.

ART runs eight fixed bus routes, ART On Demand microtransit in three zones in western Port St. Lucie and Fort Pierce, and door-to-door paratransit. The whole system has been free to riders since September 2017, paid for by the county since a state grant ended in 2020. Two smaller programs sit beside it: Direct Connect for hours when the buses do not run, and Advantage Ride for riders with developmental disabilities, which the Senior Resource Association operates.

### How riders use ART paratransit

The service plan the board approved on February 25, 2026 sets these rules:

- **Booking.** Call 772-462-1778 and press 1, weekdays from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m., at least 24 hours and no more than two weeks ahead. Paratransit runs from 6 a.m. to 8 p.m. on weekdays and 8 a.m. to 4 p.m. on Saturdays, except holidays.
- **Who qualifies for state-funded trips.** A resident 67 or older, one whose disability keeps them off the bus, or one whose household income is under 200% of the federal poverty guidelines, who also shows that no one else can provide or pay for the trip. A physician verifies any disability, riders cannot certify themselves, decisions take about 21 days, and approval lasts three years.
- **Priorities.** Medical trips come first, then work and nutrition trips, grocery runs included. ADA trips are never ranked or turned away. The county reported no unmet trip requests in 2023-24 or 2024-25.
- **Pickup and no-shows.** Riders get a 30-minute window and drivers wait five minutes. A rider who books 10 or more trips in a month, misses or late-cancels at least 10% of them, and collects three penalty points gets a warning first, then suspensions of one to four weeks.
- **County line.** Route 1 runs into Martin County and Route 7 into Indian River County, but the 2026 evaluation reports no Transportation Disadvantaged trips outside the county.

### St. Lucie County in numbers

The county pays for most of its own system. The state's 2024-25 operating report shows $5,744,802 in local government money against $8,643,056 in costs, with $939,180 from the state trust fund.

| Measure | 2022-23 | 2023-24 | 2024-25 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Total trips | 177,065 | 358,162 | 228,927 |
| Medical trips | 74,268 | 234,008 | 127,749 |
| Trips by contracted operators | 144,913 | 152,270 | 200,429 |
| Trips by coordination contractors | 32,152 | 205,892 | 28,498 |
| Trips paid by the Medicaid agency | 612 | 183,582 | 0 |
| Vehicles and drivers | 115 and 111 | 118 and 115 | 79 and 89 |
| Cost per trip | $26.77 | $27.88 | $37.75 |

The 2023-24 spike sits in two rows: 183,582 trips paid by the Medicaid agency and 205,892 trips by coordination contractors. Neither carried into 2024-25. That year 77 of the 79 vehicles were wheelchair accessible, and the report also counted 9,195 ride-hailing trips.

## How the county picks its operator

In the state's terms St. Lucie runs a complete brokerage, but in practice one company does most of the driving. MV Transportation has held the county's master transit contract since July 1, 2020. It covers fixed routes, paratransit, and microtransit, and MV handles reservations, dispatch, and vehicle maintenance. The county drives no trips itself.

That contract was due to expire in 2025. The county advertised a request for proposals in February 2025, sent it out nationally, and received seven proposals. In September 2025 it chose MV Transportation to continue. The February 2026 service plan says the county rebids the operator every three to five years, so the main contract will not open again for some time.

The coordinator evaluation the board approved on May 6, 2026 lists what the county weighs when it chooses an operator: capability and capacity, age of the company, experience, management and staff, safety and training programs, insurance, accident history, financial strength, a performance bond, community knowledge, and price. If you want a share of the main work, the realistic path is to team with a bidder at the next procurement. [Subcontracting NEMT trips](https://nemtguide.com/guides/subcontract-nemt-trips/) covers how those deals are usually built.

### What the county bills per trip

The state commission's rate model sets what the county bills the program for each state-funded trip. For 2026-27 the county treated both services as fully contracted out: $8,744,753 for 229,085 projected ambulatory trips and $2,186,188 for 53,736 wheelchair trips. The board approved the result on May 6, 2026.

| Rate | 2025-26 | 2026-27 |
|---|---|---|
| Ambulatory trip | $24.90 | $38.17 |
| Wheelchair trip | $42.68 | $40.68 |
| Ambulatory passenger mile | $3.05 | $4.63 |
| Wheelchair passenger mile | $5.22 | $4.94 |

These are billing rates for the program, not a price list for carriers. A Direct Connect carrier or subcontractor earns what its own contract says. The state's draft trip and equipment grant for St. Lucie in 2026-27, in the commission's June 11, 2026 package, is $772,991 plus an $85,887 local match.

## Direct Connect: the county's after-hours program

Direct Connect began in mid-2017 to cover work, school, and medical trips in the early morning, at night, and on weekends, the hours when the buses and paratransit vans do not run. The service plan says it runs on outside contract carriers that offer wheelchair accessible vehicles, taxi service, or ride-hailing. Riders 18 or older who qualify as Transportation Disadvantaged book on their own or through the county office.

Demand has outrun the money. The county's 2026 transit development plan update says Direct Connect gave more than 29,000 rides in the county's 2024-25 fiscal year, up 57%, driven by a sharp rise in early-morning, evening, and weekend dialysis trips, and that the cost is not sustainable without new funding. As of May 2026, the county's Direct Connect page said the program was full and took new riders from a waiting list.

To cover dialysis riders, the county won a $202,500 state Innovative Service Development grant that took effect in January 2026, and it had carried 2,216 trips for 79 riders by the end of March. It asked for $270,000 for 2026-27 to serve about 99 riders. On June 11, 2026, the state commission tabled every 2026-27 innovation grant until its budget was final, and its September 17, 2026 package proposes striking that grant from Rule 41-2.014 because it has no recurring money. Ask the transit department how it pays for those dialysis trips now and whether it is adding carriers.

Advantage Ride, the four-county program for riders with intellectual and developmental disabilities, belongs to the same story. The Senior Resource Association runs it and St. Lucie County pays the grant's local match. The county's transit director told the board on May 6, 2026 that it costs $1.5 million a year, $150,000 of it from the county. The 2026 transit plan update counts more than 37,000 Advantage Ride trips in the county's 2024-25 fiscal year. A rider told the board that day she feared its state money would end on June 30, and the commission's June 11 vote tabled the association's new request for after-hours and cross-county trips between Indian River and St. Lucie.

## Coordination agreements for agencies with their own riders

The other door is a coordination agreement. An agency that receives public money for its clients' rides and drives some or all of them itself signs the state commission's standard contract with the county, reports its trips for the annual operating report, and accepts the county's performance and safety terms. St. Lucie's board approves them every year.

For 2026-27, three agencies sent the county the required paperwork, and the board took up their agreements on August 19, 2026: An Answer to Care, Inc., in Port St. Lucie, the Council on Aging of St. Lucie, Inc., in Fort Pierce, and United Veterans of St. Lucie County, Inc. The 2025-26 service plan lists every coordination contractor for both ambulatory and wheelchair trips. The county inspects every coordination contractor on site once a year, checking vehicle maintenance, employee training, personnel records, and insurance, and it can leave out of the next renewal a contractor whose annual report shows weak service.

This route fits a company or agency that already has funded riders of its own. It does not bring you the county's riders.

## What the county requires in its system

From the February 2026 service plan and the May 2026 evaluation:

- **Insurance.** Rule 41-2.006(1) sets a floor of $200,000 per person and $300,000 per incident for every coordinated trip. St. Lucie's operator and coordination contracts ask for $1,000,000 per occurrence, and the operator's coverage cost $1,198,891. See [NEMT insurance requirements](https://nemtguide.com/guides/nemt-insurance-requirements/).
- **Background checks.** Every driver needs a pre-employment screening through the Agency for Health Care Administration with an "Eligible for Employment" result, which the evaluation lists as Level II.
- **Drug testing and training.** Federal Transit Administration drug and alcohol testing for every safety-sensitive job, a drug-free workplace policy, and training in driver safety, passenger relations, wheelchair securement, and fire safety, with passenger relations and driver safety repeated every year.
- **Vehicles.** Working air conditioning and heat, two-way communication, a first aid kit, and no more riders than the maker's seat count. Drivers call 911 through dispatch for any serious incident. Riders under 5 or under 45 pounds ride in a child seat, which the family brings when the vehicle has none.
- **Drivers.** ID badges and uniforms, a spoken name and company at pickup, and help from the rider's threshold to a secured seat.
- **Service standards.** 91% on time, no more than 1.5 accidents per 100,000 miles, at least 20,000 miles between road calls, and no more than one complaint per 1,000 trips. In the 2026 evaluation the operator ran 92% on time with 0.28 complaints per 1,000 trips, and missed two goals: answering calls within 35 seconds (it averaged 37.36) and growing fixed-route ridership 5% (it fell 1%).

## Does St. Lucie County require a permit for wheelchair vans

The county has no wheelchair van license, but it does have a passenger carrier certificate that can reach a private van company, so ask before you run broker trips here. Article VI of chapter 12 of the county code makes it unlawful for a motor carrier to operate any vehicle with 18 or fewer passenger seats for pay on streets in the unincorporated county without a certificate of transportation. The company needs a Class A certificate, and each driver a Class B certificate. The exemptions cover vehicles under contract with the county for public transit, ambulances licensed under chapter 401, and dropping off a rider lawfully picked up outside the unincorporated area. They do not mention wheelchair or medical vans.

A Class A application asks for fingerprints and photos of every owner and officer, five years of accident and criminal history, each vehicle's seats and accessibility features, and a service radius of 50 or 200 miles. Insurance runs from $25,000 per person and $50,000 per incident for a taxicab to $100,000 per person and $300,000 per incident, plus $100,000 in property damage, for a van with 9 to 18 seats. Certificates expire every September 30 and renew between September 1 and October 1, with fees set by board resolution.

Fort Pierce has a matching certificate inside its city limits, in article IX of chapter 22 of its code, amended by Ordinance 16-021 on October 17, 2016, with the same insurance tiers. Every business also owes the county business tax under chapter 42: $15.10 a year with five or fewer employees and $27.55 above that, due September 30, with a 10% penalty in October and 5% a month after, up to 25%. Trips into Palm Beach County follow its own permit rules, covered on the [Palm Beach County](https://nemtguide.com/states/florida/palm-beach-county/) page. Statewide rules are in [Florida NEMT license rules](https://nemtguide.com/guides/florida-nemt-license/).

## Medicaid rides in St. Lucie County

St. Lucie is in Medicaid Region G under section 409.966 of the Florida Statutes. Because the county system billed no trips to the Medicaid agency in 2024-25, Medicaid work here runs through the brokers. Members outside a health plan book with Modivcare at 1-866-726-1457. The state's 2025 waiver capacity table lists 45 Modivcare vehicles in St. Lucie, 36 of them wheelchair vans and 7 stretcher vans, the most wheelchair vans of any Region G county. The [Modivcare in Florida](https://nemtguide.com/brokers/modivcare/florida/) page covers how to join that network.

Most members are in a plan, and Sunshine Health holds nearly half of them. As of August 31, 2026:

| Plan | St. Lucie members, main plan | Who books its rides |
|---|---|---|
| [Sunshine Health](https://nemtguide.com/health-plans/sunshine-health-florida/) | 23,670 | [Alivi](https://nemtguide.com/brokers/alivi/) |
| [Humana](https://nemtguide.com/health-plans/humana-healthy-horizons-florida/) | 14,423 | [Modivcare](https://nemtguide.com/brokers/modivcare/) |
| [Simply Healthcare](https://nemtguide.com/health-plans/simply-healthcare-florida/) | 7,766 | [Ride2MD](https://nemtguide.com/brokers/ride2md/) |
| [Community Care Plan](https://nemtguide.com/health-plans/community-care-plan-florida/) | 2,838 | Modivcare |
| [Florida Community Care](https://nemtguide.com/health-plans/florida-community-care/) | 411 | Ride2MD |

Those five plans hold 49,108 of the county's 49,147 main-plan members. Long-term care adds 2,200 more, led by Florida Community Care (723), Humana (688), and Sunshine (622).

## What to do first in St. Lucie County

1. **Call the transit department at 772-462-1798.** Ask whether Direct Connect is adding contract carriers, what it pays for wheelchair and dialysis trips, and whether the 2025 operator contract allows subcontractors.
2. **Settle the certificate question.** If you will carry riders in the unincorporated county or in Fort Pierce, ask whether your vans need a certificate of transportation, and pay the county business tax.
3. **Build the file the county checks.** Coverage of $1,000,000 per occurrence, AHCA background screening, an FTA drug and alcohol program, and driver training records.
4. **Ask about a coordination agreement** if you already carry funded clients of your own, before the board's August review.
5. **Go to a board meeting.** The Local Coordinating Board meets next on November 4, 2026, at 2 p.m. at the TPO, 466 SW Port St. Lucie Boulevard, Suite 111, Port St. Lucie. TPO staff answer at 772-462-1593.
6. **Enroll with Florida Medicaid, then apply to the brokers.** Alivi, Modivcare, and Ride2MD carry the county's plan members, and Modivcare also carries members outside a plan.

The Senior Resource Association coordinates [Indian River County](https://nemtguide.com/states/florida/indian-river-county/) to the north and [Martin County](https://nemtguide.com/states/florida/martin-county/) to the south, where the coordinator sends trips to several local contract companies.

## Frequently asked questions

### Who provides paratransit in St. Lucie County?

Area Regional Transit, the county's transit system. The St. Lucie County Board of County Commissioners is the state-designated coordinator, and MV Transportation drives the door-to-door paratransit, the fixed routes, and the ART On Demand microtransit under one county contract. The service is free to riders, who book at 772-462-1778 on weekdays from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m., at least 24 hours ahead.

### How can my company get St. Lucie County paratransit trips?

Not through the main paratransit contract, which the county rebid in February 2025 and gave back to MV Transportation in September 2025. The county rebids it every three to five years. The open doors are Direct Connect, which runs on outside contract carriers with wheelchair vans, taxis, or ride-hailing, and a coordination agreement if you already carry your own funded clients. Call the transit department at 772-462-1798.

### What does St. Lucie County pay per paratransit trip?

The state rate model approved on May 6, 2026 bills $38.17 for an ambulatory trip and $40.68 for a wheelchair trip in 2026-27, up from $24.90 and $42.68 in 2025-26. Those are the rates the county bills the state program, built from its projected contract costs. A subcontractor or Direct Connect carrier is paid whatever its own contract says.

### Does St. Lucie County require a permit for wheelchair vans?

The county code has no wheelchair van license, but article VI of chapter 12 requires a certificate of transportation for any company carrying passengers for pay in vehicles with 18 or fewer seats in the unincorporated county, and a driver certificate for each chauffeur. It exempts vehicles under contract with the county for public transit. Ask the county whether your vans need one, and check Fort Pierce, which has its own.

### How much insurance do St. Lucie County transportation contracts require?

The coordinator evaluation approved on May 6, 2026 lists $1,000,000 per occurrence as the minimum in both the operator contract and the coordination contracts. State Rule 41-2.006 sets the floor for all coordinated trips at $200,000 per person and $300,000 per incident, so the county asks for more than the rule.

### Who arranges Medicaid rides in Port St. Lucie and Fort Pierce?

The brokers, not ART. St. Lucie is in Medicaid Region G, and the county system billed no trips to the Medicaid agency in 2024-25. Members outside a health plan book with Modivcare at 1-866-726-1457. Plan members book through their plan's broker: Alivi for Sunshine Health, Modivcare for Humana and Community Care Plan, and Ride2MD for Simply Healthcare and Florida Community Care.

## Official resources

- [St. Lucie County: Area Regional Transit](https://www.stlucieco.gov/departments-and-services/area-regional-transit)
- [St. Lucie County: Direct Connect](https://www.stlucieco.gov/departments-and-services/area-regional-transit/our-services/direct-connect)
- [St. Lucie County Code, chapter 12, article VI: certificates of transportation](https://library.municode.com/fl/st._lucie_county/codes/code_of_ordinances?nodeId=CO_CH12BU_ARTVIMOCA)
- [Florida Administrative Code: Rule 41-2.006, insurance and service standards for coordinated trips](https://www.flrules.org/gateway/ruleNo.asp?id=41-2.006)
- [Florida CTD: Community Transportation Coordinators](https://www.fdot.gov/ctd/community-transportation-coordinators)
- [Modivcare: Transportation Providers, Contact Us](https://www.modivcare.com/transportation-providers-contact-us/)