Lucas County JFS Transportation: The Toledo NET Contractors, Their Rates, and How Riders Choose

Lucas County, home to Toledo, runs its Medicaid rides on client choice. There is no broker and no single vendor. Lucas County Job and Family Services (LCDJFS) signs the same agreement, at the same rates, with every cab and van company it approves, and each rider picks one of them on a county form. An agreement puts you on that form. After that, riders decide how much work you get.

How Lucas County NET rides work

Under rule 5160-15-10, Ohio’s county job and family services offices buy the Medicaid rides that health plans are not required to give, and no two counties buy them quite alike. For the plan side, read the Ohio guide, and for other counties, county NET contracts in Ohio.

The county’s NET page says a rider qualifies when they are on Medicaid, have no access to a vehicle, and have a medical need their physician can verify. The program gives rides to and from Ohio Medicaid providers in Lucas County. To apply, the rider sends three forms to LCDJFS at 3737 W. Sylvania Avenue:

1. Medical Transportation Needs Assessment (LCJFS 0852, revised December 2025). One medical provider says whether the rider can take the bus: walk to a stop, climb the stairs, wait up to 60 minutes, and deal safely with other passengers. The form also asks whether the rider uses a power chair or needs an ambulette.
2. List of Medical Providers and Special Needs (LCJFS 0857). Every doctor, dentist, and other provider the rider sees, plus one pharmacy, with full addresses.
3. Contractor Selection Form (LCJFS 0853, January 2026). The rider checks one transportation company.

Each contractor logs in to the county’s online taxi portal to see its list of authorized clients. You may carry only riders on your list, pick them up at the home address on the roster, and take them only to destinations on it. Two stops need no approval: a pharmacy after an appointment, and lab work or x-rays the doctor orders right after the visit. The Ohio Auditor of State’s June 2025 audit found that Lucas approves riders for 12 months and sends a renewal packet two months before the span ends.

The seven contractors and how riders pick them

On January 6, 2026, the Board of Lucas County Commissioners approved seven contractor agreements for Non-Emergency Medicaid and Title XX (federal social services block grant) transportation, Resolutions 2026-18 through 2026-24. Each runs January 1 to December 31, 2026, with the possibility of two one-year extensions. No agreement carries a dollar amount: each resolution says the value depends on how many eligible clients choose that contractor and how many trips it gives, paid from pass-through Medicaid funds.

The selection form describes each company in a few lines, and the county’s policy says each contractor’s own ride policy is shared with riders when they choose. As printed in January 2026:

Contractor	Hours on the form	Notice	Wheelchair service
Black & White Taxi & Cab	24 hours, every day	Same day; 24 hours preferred	Ambulette, 24 hours’ notice
B & S Blessing (Weak Ends Transportation)	6:30 a.m. to 6:30 p.m. daily	24 hours	Ambulette
A-Ride	Weekdays 5 a.m. to 7 p.m., weekends 6 a.m. to 8 or 9 p.m.	Same day; 24 hours preferred	None listed
RA Cab	24 hours, every day	Same day; 24 hours preferred	Wheelchair accessible vans
Yellow Cab of Toledo	24 hours, every day	None listed	None listed
FMI Transportation	9 a.m. to 5 p.m. daily	48 hours	None listed
Emerald Medical Transport	6 a.m. to 10 p.m. weekdays	None listed	None listed

The list changes between rounds. In June 2023 the commissioners extended agreements with six companies: 181 Enterprise, Black & White Transportation, MNM Transportation, RA Cab of Toledo, B&S Blessings, and Transit Now, dba Yellow Cab. Neither 181 Enterprise nor MNM Transportation is among the 2026 contractors, and A-Ride, Emerald Medical Transport, and FMI Transportation were not on the 2023 list.

Riders choose when new agreements start and at each yearly eligibility review, and can switch at other times only for good cause: missed pickups, a pattern of late pickups, rude or abusive treatment, a threat to their safety, an unsafe vehicle, or another reason LCDJFS accepts. The policy says LCDJFS will not encourage riders to switch.

What a Lucas County ride pays

The NET Transportation Policy dated January 1, 2026 is part of every agreement, so all seven companies get the same rates:

• Car, no meter. $5.22 for the first mile and $2.60 for each added full mile.
• Car, metered. A $2.62 drop plus $0.26 for each completed tenth of a mile, with the meter started only once the rider is in the car.
• Ambulette (wheelchair accessible vehicle). $31.00 per pickup plus $1.30 a mile, the same amounts as Ohio Medicaid’s fee-for-service maximums for a wheelchair van trip (codes A0130 and S0209, unchanged since January 1, 2024).
• Waiting time. $0.40 a minute, up to 10 minutes (30 for an ambulette), and only while a rider picks up or drops off a prescription.

A 6-mile car ride pays $18.22 under either car rate, and a 6-mile ambulette ride pays $38.80. The driver does not wait through the appointment: the rider calls you for a new pickup home, which works as a will-call trip, and that return pickup counts as on time within 30 minutes of the call. Trips beyond Lucas County and the cities touching it need LCDJFS approval, and then pay the same rates, with tolls added to your invoice.

Compare that with Franklin County and Summit County, where each company bids its own rate. In Lucas County you cannot win riders on price, only on service.

Invoices and records

Bill LCDJFS within 30 days after the month of service, with a computerized billing and a signed summary invoice. LCDJFS pays monthly by the unit, within 30 days of an accurate invoice, and a final invoice marked “Final” is due within 30 days after the agreement ends. Keep a charge slip for every trip for at least three years, with the rider’s name, pickup point, destination, date, charge, and signature. A driver worried about disease spread may record the rider’s date of birth instead.

What the county requires of contractors

The policy and agreement set these terms for 2026:

• Licenses. Taxi and livery companies meet Toledo Municipal Code chapters 773, 775, and 779, and transportation network (app-based) companies meet ORC chapter 4925. Ambulette contractors also meet the state ambulette rules in chapter 4766.
• Insurance. Liability coverage on vehicles and drivers at all times, under Toledo code chapter 777 or ORC 4925. Losing it can end the agreement at once.
• Vehicles. Clean, sound seats, able to carry a non-motorized wheelchair, and open to county inspection without notice.
• Service level. Curb to curb only. Drivers help riders in and out and, where possible, from their door, but do not enter the home.
• Dispatch. Two-way radio or a phone with a push-to-talk radio feature. A plain cell phone does not qualify.
• On-time window. Pick up no earlier than 5 minutes before and no later than 15 minutes after the scheduled time. If you cannot take a ride, hand it to another contracted company yourself.
• One rider per trip. One authorized client, plus any minor children, one other adult, or both. No linked trips and no multiple loading.
• Drivers. No hand-held phones while carrying clients, the most direct route, and no remarks about a rider’s benefits. Ambulette drivers meet the state training rules.
• Incidents. Call the Transportation Services Coordinator within one hour of a crash, injury, or misconduct claim, and email a written report within 24 hours.
• Subcontracting. Only with LCDJFS’s prior written approval.

Every driver and owner also needs a BCI background check free of the offenses listed in section 109.572, and searches of the OIG exclusion list, SAM, Ohio’s developmental disabilities abuser registry, the Ohio nurse aide registry, the national sex offender website, the Ohio Attorney General’s and prison system’s offender searches, and the Auditor of State’s findings for recovery. LCDJFS rechecks exclusions and background checks yearly, reviews invoices monthly and case records and signature slips bi-annually, and runs an annual customer survey. The driver background check guide explains each search.

How to become a Lucas County NET contractor

The county’s contracted services page says each contract round generally starts with a competitive request: a request for proposals, a request for qualifications, or a request for letterhead bids, published in area newspapers and on the county website. LCDJFS scores the responses, negotiates with the companies it selects, and monitors them at their own offices. In its 2012 request for qualifications for these rides, the county planned to contract with every bidder that met the qualifications and let riders choose among them.

1. Get your Toledo licenses. The City of Toledo Division of Treasury issues taxicab and vehicle for hire licenses and public vehicle operator licenses, which expire each March 31. Each driver’s operator license takes a notarized application, a physical and eye exam, and fingerprinting by the Toledo Police Identification Unit. For wheelchair work, add a state ambulette license.
2. Register as a prospective county supplier through the county’s Bid Opportunities page, so you can see and answer county bids.
3. Ask when the next round opens. The current agreements end December 31, 2026 unless extended, and the resolutions allow two one-year extensions, which would carry them to December 31, 2028. Call LCDJFS at 419-213-8910 and watch the commissioners’ agendas.
4. Build what the policy demands. Two-way dispatch, a backup company, driver background files, and an ambulette option if you can, since only three of the seven current contractors list wheelchair service.
5. Write a ride policy that wins riders. Your hours, notice, and wheelchair service are what riders compare on form 0853.
6. Take plan work meanwhile. Health plan members’ rides go through the plan brokers, such as MTM Health in Ohio for four plans, as the Ohio guide explains.