NET Transportation in Hamilton County, Ohio: The County Ride Contract, Rates, and How to Get In (2027)

Hamilton County Job and Family Services (HCJFS) buys NET rides directly from ride companies, with no broker in between. It runs two lines of work under one contract: car and van rides for adults on Medicaid, and group van runs that take children on Medicaid to behavioral health day treatment. The current contract came out of request for proposals KB05-25R, issued December 2, 2025, and started June 1, 2026.

Who arranges NET rides in Hamilton County

Every Ohio county’s job and family services office runs its own NET program under rule 5160-15-10, and health plans cover wheelchair van rides and longer trips. The Ohio guide explains that split, and county NET contracts in Ohio compares how counties buy rides.

In Hamilton County, HCJFS decides who rides and books each trip. Its offices moved to 1701 Patricia McCollum Way in Bond Hill, Cincinnati, on February 9, 2026. Riders check eligibility at 513-946-1000, option 6. They must call at least five business days before the appointment, and monthly requests are due by the 15th of the month before. HCJFS may book urgent adult trips on two days’ notice or less for dialysis or a hospital release.

The county can help with bus passes, van service, Access tickets, or mileage. Van service is the part a ride company does. HCJFS schedules every van trip itself, including standing monthly trips, and posts new, changed, and canceled trips to a secure file transfer site at noon, 3 p.m., and 8 p.m. each day. Companies route what they receive. Riders call the HCJFS call center, never the ride company, to ask for service.

When the bid ran, HCJFS split trips between its companies in two ways. Each children’s day treatment program was served by one company only, and adult trips were assigned by the rider’s last name, in alphabetical blocks.

Who holds the contract and what it pays

On July 16, 2026, the Board of County Commissioners approved two contracts under KB05-25R, both effective June 1, 2026 through May 31, 2028. HCJFS had told bidders it wanted at least two companies. On February 12, 2026, the board amended the county’s earlier NET contracts, which its agenda lists with Valley Transportation and MTM Transit LLC.

Company	Adult trip, 2026 to 2028	Children’s group trip, 2026 to 2028	Two-year maximum	Profit cap
Valley Transport LLC, 6171 Colerain Ave., Cincinnati	$32.85	$67.32	$10,392,955.90	6.04%
MTM Transit LLC, Lake St. Louis, Missouri	$35.88	$71.92	$10,521,347.11	4%

Each rate is per one-way vehicle trip. The county may renew each contract twice, for two years at a time. The renewal rates are already set: Valley gets $35.48 and $72.71 from June 2028, then $37.25 and $76.34 from June 2030. MTM Transit gets $38.39 and $72.59, then $41.00 and $79.38.

How payment works:

• No-shows and cancellations earn nothing. Funding does not allow it. Billing is by trip leg, so a rider who rides out and no-shows the return pays you one leg.
• Only authorized trips are paid. A trip with no HCJFS authorization is not paid, except in the two cases the contract lists, such as a recurring rider carried after hours because of a scheduling error and reported by email within one business day.
• Invoices are monthly. Send the signed invoice and a spreadsheet of every trip leg, its status, and its cost within 30 days after the month ends. HCJFS pays nothing invoiced more than 60 days after the month ends, and it aims to pay within 30 days.
• Fuel. You may ask for a surcharge when the federal Midwest average gas price runs 10% or more above the $2.95 per gallon baseline in the contract, on a separate monthly invoice backed by fuel receipts.
• Profit is capped. Your bid budget shows profit as its own line, negotiated under rule 5101:9-4-07, and the contract caps it.

The work: adult rides and children’s day treatment runs

From February 2024 through September 2025, HCJFS scheduled 390,403 one-way adult trips, and about one-third ended as no-shows or cancellations. Adult trips are coded as medical and dental, dialysis, or pharmacy, and many are standing rides to dialysis, addiction treatment, and mental health care. HCJFS told bidders that 2025 volume was the lowest it had seen in several years, and it guarantees no volume.

Over the same months it scheduled 254,835 one-way group trips for children to day treatment and partial hospitalization, with a 44% no-show and cancellation rate. These runs go Monday to Friday to programs such as Beech Acres, Camelot Community Care, and the Children’s Home, with program hours between 7:30 a.m. and 6:30 p.m. Children arrive no more than 15 minutes before the program starts. HCJFS may ask for a monitor on a vehicle when a rider’s behavior puts others at risk, but it rarely does. See behavioral health transportation and children in NEMT.

Service rules the contract sets:

• Rides run 4 a.m. to 10 p.m., seven days a week, and your email inbox is watched from 5 a.m. to 8 p.m.
• Rides are curb to curb, and no rider stays on board more than 75 minutes on one leg.
• You arrive within 20 minutes of a scheduled return time, and within 60 minutes of a will-call request.
• You never mix HCJFS riders with riders from any other source or contract.
• You call the HCJFS Transportation Services Supervisor within one hour of a critical incident, such as a crash or no adult at home to receive a child, and email a written report within 24 hours.
• You run in snow unless a Level 2 or higher snow emergency covers the pickup or drop-off, and HCJFS announces weather cancellations by 6 a.m.
• You keep all contract records locally for six years, available in Cincinnati.

Trips stay mostly in Hamilton County, with some in Butler, Warren, and Clermont counties. Trips past 125 miles are rare and priced one by one.

What the contract requires

Vehicles

No vehicle on the contract may have a lift. HCJFS carries wheelchair users only when they can move from a folding wheelchair into the vehicle on their own, and the driver folds and stores the chair. The RFP says vehicles may not be over six years old with more than 100,000 miles, but in Addendum 3 HCJFS answered that there is no mileage requirement, only a yearly inspection by a certified mechanic.

Each vehicle carries a first aid kit, a bloodborne pathogen kit, a knife for cutting restraint straps, and a two-way radio or cell phone that works across Hamilton and nearby counties. It needs a front-mounted camera with a 360-degree view that records the driver, any monitor, and the riders on a continuous loop, keeps video at least 48 hours, and a posted notice that it records. Nothing on the vehicle may suggest the rider is on Medicaid. The vehicle’s license number, your toll-free and local numbers, and large-print complaint instructions go inside. HCJFS may inspect or ride along without notice. See dash cameras in NEMT.

Drivers and monitors

Every driver and monitor is at least 21, holds a valid license with fewer than six points, and has no drunk or drugged driving conviction. Each needs an Ohio criminal background check under section 109.572 and a Central Registry report, both dated within six months of hire, plus a yearly Central Registry report and BMV record. Each carries a company photo ID. Drivers are trained in car seats and booster seats, passenger assistance, and emergencies. These add to the state’s own vendor screening under rule 5160-15-14.

Insurance

The insurer must be licensed in Ohio and rated A-:VII or better by A.M. Best.

Coverage	Minimum
General liability	$2 million per occurrence, with a physical abuse and sexual molestation endorsement
Separate abuse and molestation policy	$1 million, only if the general liability policy lacks that coverage
Auto, 6 or fewer occupants including the driver	$1 million per accident
Auto, more than 6 occupants	$5 million per accident
Umbrella	$2 million
Employer’s liability	$1 million, with Ohio workers’ compensation

The Board of County Commissioners and HCJFS are named as additional insured on every policy but workers’ compensation, with 30 days’ notice before cancellation. HCJFS answered in Addendum 3 that one combined $5 million umbrella can meet the required primary and umbrella limits. See abuse and molestation coverage.

How to get Hamilton County NET work

1. Sign up for bid notices. Submit the Interested Vendor Notification Request on the HCJFS website and describe your transportation service. It is not an application, only a way to hear about bids.
2. Subcontract adult trips now. Both July 2026 contracts already list one approved subcontractor, Meda-Care Transportation, Inc., and the contract holder pays its subcontractors directly. Ask a holder whether it takes more. Each one must be approved by that company and by HCJFS before your first trip, and you meet the same insurance, vehicle, and driver rules. Children’s group runs are never subcontracted. See how to subcontract NEMT trips.
3. Watch for a re-release. HCJFS may re-release the bid during the term if it needs more capacity, under the same scoring, and those contracts end with the current ones.
4. Prepare for the next bid. The MTM Transit contract says HCJFS gives at least 120 days’ notice before May 31, 2028 if it will not renew.
5. Chase the rides this contract does not carry. Wheelchair van rides, and car rides when the nearest provider is at least 30 miles away, go through the health plans’ brokers, covered in the Ohio guide.

When KB05-25R ran, companies had to register by December 11, 2025, and only registered companies received the unlocked budget and the addenda. Proposals went by email by January 21, 2026: a PDF of no more than 300 pages plus the budget in unlocked Excel, under a 24 MB limit. The bid asked for:

• A cover sheet with unit rates for all six years, and a budget built to a cost per unit of service.
• The hourly pay you plan for drivers, since HCJFS wants rates that can hire and keep drivers.
• Three current reference letters, resumes for key staff, and a program manager with two years in a similar program.
• Two years of federal tax returns, plus a balance sheet and income statement, from a for-profit company.
• A fleet list with each vehicle’s year, make, and model, and a letter of intent from each planned subcontractor.

Scoring gave 60% to the program, 20% to the budget, 10% to administration, and 10% to written answers, presentations, or site visits, or 70% to the program when HCJFS held none of those. During a bid, talk only to the named contact person, never to commissioners or other HCJFS staff, or your proposal can be rejected. See how to answer a NEMT RFP.

Counties nearby in Ohio buy rides differently: Cuyahoga County has one vendor, and Franklin County pays dozens of companies by the mile.