Savannah Non-Emergency Transportation Permits: City Company, Van, and Driver Rules (2027)

Savannah regulates medical ride vans at the city level. Article X of the city code, adopted in December 2002 as the Shuttle and Nonemergency Transportation Services Ordinance, covers any van that carries passengers for pay to and from medical appointments on streets inside city limits. The Transportation Unit of Mobility and Parking Services enforces it: it approves your company, inspects every van, and issues a permit to every driver.

Who needs a Savannah nonemergency vehicle permit

Article X sorts for-hire passenger vehicles into two classes. A nonemergency vehicle is a van carrying passengers for hire to and from medical appointments. A shuttle seats seven or more and runs only on a city-approved route with fixed stops, or for special events by contract. Both definitions leave out taxicabs, ambulances, sightseeing tour vehicles, and limousines rented with a driver by contract.

The definition names vans. If you plan to run sedans for medical trips, ask the Transportation office which permit they need before you buy one.

Stretcher vans are a closer call. Article X excludes ambulances, and Article L of the code licenses any vehicle especially designed, built, and equipped to carry patients as an ambulance, at $100 for the service plus $10 for each ambulance after the first. The 2026 Revenue Ordinance also lists special needs passenger transportation with a reference to Article L. Ask the Transportation office and the Revenue Department in writing which article your stretcher vans fall under.

The city’s permits come on top of the state’s: a GIMC registration with the Georgia Department of Public Safety for vans carrying only elderly or disabled riders, 10 or fewer at a time, and the Department of Community Health’s NEMT rules, as the Georgia guide explains. Medicaid trips in Chatham County come through Verida’s East region, so see Verida in Georgia for how to join.

How to get set up with the city

The city’s startup checklist puts the steps in this order:

1. Register with Public Safety. The checklist sends you to DPS first. The city’s state requirements sheet lists GA UCR, the registration DPS calls GIMC, for a nonemergency vehicle with 10 or fewer passengers, and a passenger permit plus GA UCR for 11 or more.
2. Pick a color scheme. Submit it to the Transportation office for approval. Section 6-2029 bars two companies from running vans in the same color scheme.
3. Register your company. The Owner/Company Registration form asks for your mailing and physical addresses, business tax certificate number, owner details, company shirt colors, and your color scheme and vehicle numbers. Circle NEV as the company type.
4. Get your business location approved. Apply online through the city’s eTRAC system, then book a 30-minute virtual or phone review. The approval replaced the old zoning letter that the checklist still mentions, has no fee as of October 2026, and takes 7 to 10 business days on average.
5. Send a certificate of insurance. List the Mayor and Aldermen of the City of Savannah as certificate holder, with each van’s make, year, model, and VIN in the description of operations box.
6. Get the business tax certificate. The Revenue Department will not issue it until the steps above are in and the Transportation Unit signs off.
7. Book the inspection. Call 912-651-6468 to have each van inspected.
8. Buy decals and driver permits. Put the commercial decal on the passenger side of the windshield.

The business tax certificate

Every business operating in the city needs a business tax certificate, and Article X makes one a condition of running nonemergency vehicles. The Revenue Department asks for a photo ID for each owner (or, for a corporation, its certificate of organization, officer list, and one officer’s ID), a lease or deed for your business location, your EIN, and two notarized affidavits. It also needs approval from the Transportation Unit for every non-emergency transportation company, and it asks you to allow about 14 business days.

Business tax is based on gross receipts. The 2026 Revenue Ordinance lists special needs passenger transportation (NAICS 485991) in Class A, where the tax, including the $75 base, is $85 on receipts up to $30,000, $119 up to $100,000, $172 up to $200,000, and $232 up to $300,000. A new company estimates receipts for the rest of the year. Certificates expire December 31, and renewals are due before January 31.

Running the company from home

Article X requires a fixed headquarters on private property that meets city zoning, with off-street parking for every van not in service. The headquarters cannot move without a transfer of your business tax certificate. If that headquarters is your house, the zoning code’s home occupation rules (Sec. 8.7.11) allow no visible evidence of the business from outside, stored equipment included, and in residential districts only people who live there may work on site. Ask the zoning use coordinator at 912-644-7709 whether vans parked at your home fit those rules before you sign anything.

What the city charges in 2026

These are the city’s own fees for a nonemergency transportation company, from Article X, the 2026 Revenue Ordinance (adopted December 11, 2025, and amended January 22, 2026), and the city’s business approval FAQ:

Item	2026 fee	Paid to
Business location approval	No fee	Planning, Zoning and Urban Design
Business tax certificate	From $85 a year, by gross receipts	Revenue Department
Commercial decal, per vehicle	$200 a year, $100 from July 1	Mobility and Parking Services
Driver permit	$5	Transportation Unit
Police record check, when charged	$20	Savannah Police Department
Replacement decal	$10	Mobility and Parking Services

The decal for each regulated transportation vehicle is due by January 31 every year, and the city issues it only after the vehicle passes inspection. Miss your scheduled inspection date and the city adds a $10 late penalty, and if the city has to enforce payment, a $25 penalty. Decals are not mailed. You pick them up at the Mobility and Parking Services office in the Bryan Street Parking Garage, 100 East Bryan Street, with a paid business tax certificate, current tag registration for each van, and every parking citation paid. The decal guidelines also accept a paid business license from another city or county, so if your office sits outside the city, ask the Transportation office how Article X applies to you.

Driver permits

No one may drive a nonemergency vehicle for hire on Savannah streets without a city driver permit issued to that driver for your company. The application is sworn, and each driver needs:

• to be at least 18 and authorized to work in the United States
• a seven-year Georgia driving record of the proper class showing a license that is not suspended or revoked, and a three-year record every year after
• a certificate from a physician in the city saying the driver has no condition that makes driving unsafe, on the Fitness for Duty statement, updated every two years at renewal
• a Savannah Police Department investigation, with the report and any traffic and police record attached to the application
• a photo taken by the Transportation Unit, which goes on the permit

The permit hangs in the van in clear view of riders. It cannot move to another person or another company, and it lasts until the driver’s birthday or the date printed on it. For the screening to run before a driver applies, see NEMT driver background checks.

A permit can be suspended when a driver is charged with, not just convicted of, DUI or reckless driving, makes a false statement on the application, or breaks Article X or state law. The Parking Services Director may suspend it for up to six months after a hearing, a fourth suspension within three years lasts one year, and the City Manager decides appeals. You may appeal a Transportation Unit ruling to the Parking Services Director in writing within 30 days.

Van markings, inspections, and insurance

Savannah makes its vans easy to identify on the street:

• Company sign. Your full company name and phone number on each side, in letters at least four inches high, painted or permanently attached.
• City number. A number assigned by the Transportation Unit, at least four inches high, on each side and the rear, registered with the names of the owner and driver.
• Color scheme. The approved scheme, which no other company may share.
• Condition. A current Georgia tag, a painted, clean, and sanitary van, and every safety and pollution control device working.

The Transportation Unit inspects each van before it carries riders, at least once a year, and after any accident before it goes back into service. It also runs random unannounced inspections and can take a van off the street until each problem is fixed. Use our vehicle inspection checklist before each one.

Article X sets no dollar limits of its own. It ties your insurance to Georgia law, so the state minimums in the Georgia guide set the floor. On top of that, the city wants a policy with an insurer authorized in Georgia for each van, or a state self-insurance certificate, with proof kept in the van and on file with the Clerk of Council and the Transportation Unit. One policy may cover all the vans your company owns. That shortcut does not apply when drivers who each own their van work under your company name. The policy must carry an endorsement promising the city written notice by certified mail 30 days before it is canceled, or upon any material change in coverage, and your company holds the city harmless for its own negligence. For the layers of licensing beyond the city, see NEMT license requirements.

Rules on every trip

• Seats. Never carry more riders than the van’s rated seating capacity, though a child in arms does not count.
• Riders. Do not refuse an orderly rider unless the van is full, and never solicit passengers anywhere in the city.
• Receipts. On request, give a receipt showing your company name, the vehicle number, the driver’s name and permit number, the route, the charge, and the date.
• Smoking. Drivers may not smoke while any rider is aboard.
• Boarding. Nobody gets on or off, and no fare changes hands, while the van is moving.
• Lost property. Drivers turn found items in to your office within 12 hours, and you hold them for at least 60 days.

Article X’s route approval, rate cards, and 90-day trip sheets are written for shuttles, the fixed-route class.

What to do first

1. Call the Transportation office at 912-651-6468. Confirm that your vans fall under the nonemergency vehicle class and ask for the current inspection schedule.
2. Register with DPS and file for GIMC.
3. Lock in your location through the business location approval before you sign a lease.
4. Pick a color scheme and have it approved, then order signs with your name, phone, and city number.
5. Line up drivers’ paperwork: seven-year driving records, physician statements or DOT cards, and police checks.
6. Apply to Verida for East region Medicaid trips once your city and state paperwork is moving.