Richland County JFS Transportation: The NET Vendors, Their Rates, and How Bids Are Scored (2027)

Richland County Job and Family Services (RCJFS), at 171 Park Avenue East in Mansfield, runs the county’s Medicaid NET program with its own staff. It buys door-to-door rides from a short list of taxi and ambulette vendors, picks its private vendors through a scored request for proposals, and also mails bus tickets and gas cards. Vendor agreements run a year at a time, from October 1 to September 30.

How NET rides work in Richland County

Every Ohio county job and family services office runs a NET program under rule 5160-15-10, for Medicaid rides a health plan does not have to give. The Ohio guide covers the plan side, and county NET contracts in Ohio compares how other counties buy rides.

RCJFS keeps every step in house. Its profile, filed on state form ODM 10241, names the department, not a broker or a vendor, as the one that takes requests, decides eligibility, picks the type of help, schedules rides, and keeps the records. A social services supervisor and three social service workers run the program.

As of October 2, 2026, the department’s transportation page sets these rules:

• Who rides. Richland County residents with a Medicaid card, going to and from appointments with Medicaid providers.
• Wheelchair users transfer on their own. A rider must be able to move from a wheelchair into the vehicle without help.
• Ten working days’ notice. Requests must reach RCJFS at least 10 working days before the appointment.
• Three kinds of help. A bus ticket, a gas card, or a ride from a local vendor. Rides are booked and cancelled at 419-774-5400, option 3, and bus tickets and gas cards are requested on mail-in forms.

The profile marks bus tickets, gas cards, and contracted vendor rides as the help RCJFS gives routinely. It pays mileage, out-of-pocket travel costs, and a parent’s travel with a child only some of the time, and it does not drive riders in county vehicles.

The local service area is Richland County plus Crawford and Ashland counties, and the profile adds that rides to Franklin County, where Columbus is, are routine. For care outside that area, an ambulatory rider with a car, or with someone willing to drive, can get a fuel-only gas card sized to the county’s mileage chart after showing the driver’s current license, insurance, and registration. A rider without a car may get a taxi or ambulette ride out of the area when one is available.

Rule 5160-15-10 lets the county turn down a trip a member’s health plan must give, so plan members mostly come to the county for rides their plan does not cover. CareSource, for one, sends members who use up its yearly allowance of short trips to the county program, as the CareSource Ohio page explains.

Who drives the county’s rides and what each charges

The profile lists five vendors, each under contract from October 1, 2025 to September 30, 2026. Each private vendor charges a rate per mile plus a flat amount, with a higher price for ambulette (wheelchair) riders than for ambulatory riders:

Vendor	Ambulatory ride	Ambulette ride
Apple Lane	$2.50 a mile plus $27.00	$2.65 a mile plus $48.00
Elite Medical Transport	$2.50 a mile plus $17.00	$3.00 a mile plus $45.00
D&D Rides, LLC	$2.25 a mile plus $12.50	$2.25 a mile plus $30.00
All American	$3.00 a mile plus $22.50	$3.00 a mile plus $50.00
Richland County Transit	No rate listed	$8.00 one way up to 25 miles, or a $200 monthly pass

Counting the flat amount once per one-way trip, a 10-mile ambulatory ride costs the county $35.00 with D&D Rides and $52.50 with All American. Richland County Transit’s monthly pass covers unlimited ambulette trips inside the service area.

Two vendors also hold shared-ride rates to Akron, Cleveland, and Columbus. D&D Rides charges $2.25 a mile plus $12.50, and $12.50 more to pick up each extra rider. Apple Lane charges $100 one way or $150 round trip, with no charge for an extra rider.

The posted profile ran through September 30, 2026, and on October 2, 2026 RCJFS had no newer profile or open request for proposals on its site. Ask the department which vendors hold agreements for the year that began October 1, 2026. To see whether these prices cover your costs, run your numbers through the cost per trip guide.

How RCJFS scores a proposal

The latest request for competitive proposals RCJFS posted was issued July 15, 2024, with proposals due at noon on August 16, 2024. It covered October 1, 2024 to September 30, 2025, with an option to renew through September 30, 2026, and it sought door-to-door rides inside and outside the county for riders the department approves. RCJFS estimated that $1,351,705 would be available for Medicaid services such as NET in that year.

Every proposal first passes or fails a document check. Proposals that pass are scored on 100 points:

1. Rate schedule, 50 points. You price one-way trips in mileage bands (0 to 5, 6 to 10, 11 to 15, 16 to 20, 21 to 25, and over 25 miles) plus wait time, once for ambulatory riders and once for ambulette riders. A third grid takes shared-ride prices to Akron, Cleveland, and Columbus.
2. Availability and flexibility, 50 points. How well you can meet rider volume, needs, and demand.

RCJFS may choose vendors on factors other than price, and it looks for a reasonable, fair market rate, broad availability, and efficient service. It can pick more than one vendor from the same request. If you disagree with your rating, write to the RCJFS Director within three business days of receiving it, and the Director answers in writing within 10 business days.

What the 2024 request asked of a ride company

Your proposal package

The request wanted one original and one hard copy in a sealed package, typed in 12-point font or larger on single-sided pages. A one-page letter of intent was due July 26, 2024, and only companies with one on file received answers to questions and any addenda. The package held:

• A cover page, the checklist, and the rate schedule.
• A notarized affidavit covering collusion, discrimination, and delinquent personal property taxes.
• A certification form naming everyone with ownership or control and every managing employee, with each managing employee’s date of birth and Social Security number, your workers’ compensation and unemployment account numbers, and whether you plan a buyout or sale.
• A certificate of liability insurance, your current workers’ compensation certificate, and the management letter from your latest audit.
• Registrations for every vehicle that will carry riders.
• For each driver, a valid license, a certified driving record from the Ohio BMV, and a background check under section 109.572 of the Revised Code, listed on the county’s direct-service employee form.

The driver and owner checks come from the state’s vendor rule, 5160-15-14, which also calls for exclusion list searches at each contract start and renewal. See NEMT driver background checks and the OIG exclusion list.

Insurance

You carry professional liability and commercial general liability of at least $1,000,000 per claim and $3,000,000 in the annual aggregate, from an insurer licensed in Ohio, with RCJFS and the Board of Commissioners named as additional named insureds. The certificate is due within 30 days of contract approval and must promise RCJFS 30 days’ notice before any cancellation. A lapse not fixed in that window ends the contract. See NEMT insurance requirements.

Billing and pricing rules

• Monthly itemized invoices. Each line shows the rider, the pickup and destination, miles, dates and times, and the cost per trip or mile, with the county’s authorization number for the trip.
• No cancellation fees. The request calls them an unallowable cost that RCJFS will not pay.
• Fixed rates. Your prices hold for the whole contract year, and any change goes in at renewal for RCJFS to approve.
• Partners allowed. You may use partner companies or subcontractors if the proposal names them, says who does what, and explains how costs and referrals work. You answer for their work. See subcontracting NEMT trips.

No-shows and complaints

The profile sets a three-step rule for riders who miss a taxi or ambulette pickup. After one documented no-show, RCJFS makes a cautionary call. After two, the rider must call the vendor the day before every ride to confirm. After three, the rider’s NET rides stop for three months. Riders who misuse bus tickets or gas cards repay them before RCJFS approves more help. Since no cancellation fee is paid, see billing for no-shows for how to plan around them.

A rider’s complaint about a vendor goes to the RCJFS Fiscal Director, who checks the contract terms, takes it up with the vendor, and answers the rider within 15 days when a response is needed.

How to get Richland County NET work

1. Get on the notice list. Email the RCJFS Fiscal Director your company name, phone, email, and services, as the department’s Doing Business page asks. RCJFS posts its requests for proposals and quotes on its own website.
2. File a letter of intent on time. In 2024 it was due 11 days after the request came out, and it was the only way to receive answers and addenda.
3. Build your file before the request opens. Driver BMV records, background checks, vehicle registrations, workers’ compensation, insurance at the $1,000,000 and $3,000,000 limits, and an audit management letter all go in with the proposal.
4. Price every mileage band. Half the score is the rate schedule, so set ambulatory, ambulette, and wait time prices for each band, and decide whether to quote shared rides to Columbus, Akron, and Cleveland.
5. Show your capacity. The other half of the score is availability, so state your hours, your fleet, and how you cover out-of-county trips.
6. Ask about this year. Call RCJFS at 419-774-5400 and ask who holds the agreements for October 2026 to September 2027, whether they were renewed or bid, and when the next request goes out.

Members outside a health plan who need a wheelchair van may call an enrolled wheelchair van company directly, outside the county program, the Ohio Department of Medicaid says.