Broome County Taxi Licenses for Medicaid Rides: Why Medical Transportation Is Not Exempt

Broome County runs one taxi licensing system for the City of Binghamton and every town and village around it. The county Security Division licenses the company, each vehicle, and each driver, and the county taxi law names Medicaid taxis as covered. A medical ride company here deals with three county licenses before its first paid trip.

Statewide, Medical Answering Services (MAS) arranges Medicaid rides in Broome County through its upstate line, and the state’s Medicaid transportation manual (effective August 25, 2023) says an enrolled company must meet every county and municipal licensing rule, or risk losing its enrollment. The New York guide and the MAS page cover the MAS letter of support and Medicaid enrollment.

Who needs a Broome County taxi license

Chapter 336 of the Broome County Charter and Code reaches every taxicab, limousine, van, or other vehicle that carries passengers for pay and picks up or drops off anyone in the county, plus the drivers and operators of those vehicles. The version the county posts is Local Law 3 of 2020 (introduced as Intro. No. 12 of 2019), which took effect when it was filed with the New York Secretary of State. The Security Division’s taxi page puts it plainly as of October 2026: every for-hire business, vehicle, and driver operating in Broome County must be licensed with the division.

The law also follows companies from outside the county. Section 336-4 makes the business license mandatory for any taxi company whose fares start in Broome County, or whose fares bring it into the county more than five times a year. A Tioga, Chenango, or Delaware County company that brings a rider to a Binghamton appointment every week passes that limit in about six weeks.

The City of Binghamton no longer licenses taxis itself. It abolished its taxicab chapter on June 30, 2010, the year the county adopted countywide taxi rules to replace what the Legislature called a fragmented approach among its municipalities and county departments.

Why medical transportation is not exempt

Section 336-2 defines an exempt vehicle. The list includes an ambulance and a van or similar vehicle used to carry disabled, frail, or elderly people, along with school buses, transit buses, freight trucks, and funeral cars. The same definition then adds that taxicabs providing transportation under the New York State Medicaid program are not exempt and must comply with the whole chapter.

The Security Division’s taxi page goes further. It says a vehicle providing medical transportation is not an exempt vehicle, and that the business, the vehicle, and the driver all need licenses.

Here is what that means for each kind of company:

• Medicaid taxi in a sedan or minivan. This is Medicaid category of service 0603, upstate taxi. You need all three county licenses. eMedNY also expects your drivers to hold a Class E license and your cars to carry livery plates.
• Wheelchair van or ambulette. This is category 0602, which needs NYSDOT operating authority and Article 19-A drivers. The code’s exempt list reads as if it covers such a van, and the code’s taxicab definition also leaves out vehicles the state Transportation Law exempts, but the division’s page says medical transportation is covered. Email bcdpwsecurity@broomecountyny.gov before the van carries anyone for pay, and keep the reply in your files. The ambulette business guide covers the state side.
• Nonprofit agency. Section 336-34 waives the licensing fee for vehicles owned or run by a New York not-for-profit corporation and used only for its own purposes. The licenses themselves still apply. See nonprofit NEMT.

What each Broome County license costs

Chapter 336 leaves every fee to a resolution of the County Legislature. These are the amounts printed on the Security Division’s forms, revised November 2020 and posted as of October 2026. No license fee is prorated or refunded.

Filing	Fee
Taxi business owner license	$250 a year
Taxicab vehicle license	$200 per vehicle, or $100 for a hybrid
Taxicab driver license, new	$85
Driver license renewal	$60
Replacement driver or vehicle license	$25
Driver license reissued after a suspension	$150

A hybrid qualifies only if its drivetrain runs on both a gas engine and a rechargeable battery. The 2010 fee resolution under the county’s former Chapter 85 listed different amounts: $120 for a new driver license, $300 for a vehicle, and $25 for each county vehicle inspection. Ask the Security Division what the county inspection costs today when you file.

The business owner license

One sworn application, signed before a notary or the county clerk, covers your company. The form asks for your experience in transportation, any taxi license you held elsewhere, your business hours, and the addresses of your vehicle maintenance facility and your dispatch office. Attach:

1. Workers’ compensation proof: your New York policy, or the Workers’ Compensation Board’s certificate of attestation of exemption.
2. Your rates of fare for trips within every city, town, and village in Broome County, plus your long-distance rates, with the company name, address, and phone on each page.
3. The compliance certification, in which you promise to follow all local, state, and federal laws, including the zoning rules of the city, town, or village where your business sits. Falling out of compliance suspends the license until you fix it.
4. Photos or a diagram of your vehicle markings.

The vehicle license

Each vehicle gets its own application and its own four-digit county taxicab number. Attach the New York registration, showing the owner’s full street address (a post office box is refused), and the current state inspection date and sticker number. Your certificate of insurance must list each VIN and name the Broome County Office of Risk and Insurance, P.O. Box 1766, Binghamton, NY 13902, as certificate holder, with at least 30 days’ written notice before the policy is canceled or changed.

The driver license

Each driver needs a New York license of the right class, which the code calls a chauffeur’s license, and files a sworn application with five years of addresses and jobs, any criminal history, and any license suspensions. The division then:

• Takes a drug test at a lab it picks, on the day the driver files.
• Pulls the DMV abstract. The driver brings certificates of disposition for any arrests.
• Takes a photo for the license.
• Runs DCJS fingerprints through its chosen vendor. The driver pays the vendor directly.
• Checks two character references from Broome County residents who have known the driver for at least a year, on the county’s reference form.

The Director refuses a license for a positive drug test (the driver may reapply after 90 days), 11 or more DMV points in the past 18 months, a serious offense under Penal Law 265.00, a revoked taxi license, or a false statement. For any criminal record, the Director decides under New York Correction Law sections 701 to 703-b and 751 to 753.

Vehicle rules a Broome taxi must meet

Every licensed vehicle has to pass its yearly state inspection at a private New York inspection station and carry taxi or livery plates. The code also makes the owner have each taxi inspected by the Director or a designee at least every 180 days, and after any complaint, with a fee for each inspection. Failed items must be fixed within five business days, or the vehicle license is revoked, and a missed inspection appointment is still charged.

Beyond the inspection, Section 336-19 sets these rules:

• Age. No vehicle made 12 or more years before the application date.
• Vans. A seat and a seat belt for each passenger, and no more than seven passengers at a time. Sedans need four doors.
• Markings. Both front doors show your company name, the word taxi, taxicab, or cab, “Broome County, New York,” and your minimum fare. Your county taxicab number goes where the Director says.
• Roof light. Permanently mounted, lit at night, and showing your company name or the word taxi.
• Inside the vehicle. The county’s rights and responsibilities decal, signs in 18-point type about seat belts and no smoking, and no shades or curtains.
• Equipment. A heater, three mirrors, front and rear defrosters, a dome light that comes on when a door opens, and snow tires, all-weather radials, or chains when the roads call for them.
• Accessibility. Each vehicle must meet the federal and state accessibility rules for people with disabilities.

The markings and the seven-passenger limit shape how you equip and letter a van, so settle the exemption question before you buy one. The vehicle signage guide covers the lettering brokers and other programs ask for.

Rules on every Broome County trip

Chapter 336 adds record and reporting duties that run with the license:

• Trip sheets. Name an employee to keep one for each vehicle. Each trip shows the driver’s name and license number, the pickup time and place, the drop-off time and place, and the fare, plus any accident, breakdown, or citation. Keep them for two years and hand them to police on request. The trip log template has room for all of it.
• Driver hours. No driver may operate a taxi more than 12 hours in any 24-hour period.
• Shared rides. The rule that the first passenger must consent before you add another rider does not apply to Medicaid taxis.
• Reports to the division. Send a letter whenever a driver or employee leaves, with the reason. Report address changes within three business days, fare changes five business days before they start, and accidents that injure someone or disable the vehicle within five business days. Report a canceled insurance policy at once, and any conviction tied to running your taxis within 30 days.

Breaking the chapter carries real costs. Police may impound a vehicle running without the business license, vehicle license, inspection, or a licensed driver. Fines run up to $100 for a first offense, up to $250, 15 days in jail, or both for a second, and up to $500, 30 days, or both for a third. Three convictions for an unlicensed vehicle or driver within 12 months revoke the business license for a year. A suspension can be appealed in writing within 10 days to the county’s Commissioner of Public Works, Parks, Recreation and Youth Services.

How to start Medicaid trips in Broome County

1. Pick your service. Medicaid taxi (0603) in cars and minivans, or ambulette (0602) for wheelchair and stretcher riders with NYSDOT authority.
2. Ask the Security Division about your vehicles before you buy, especially a wheelchair van, and keep its answer.
3. File the business owner license with your workers’ compensation proof, rate sheet, compliance certification, and marking photos.
4. License each vehicle with its registration, inspection date, and an insurance certificate naming the county.
5. License each driver and book the drug test for the day you file.
6. Check your rates. Broome’s Medicaid taxi row on the fee schedule dated April 5, 2026 pays $8.07 a trip (A0100) plus $1.80 a loaded mile (S0215), both effective December 31, 2022. The New York fee schedule guide lists Broome’s wheelchair and stretcher rates, including the state’s highest wheelchair mileage rate.
7. Join MAS and enroll with Medicaid, as the New York guide explains.