Erie County MATP: How EMTA's LIFT Gives Medicaid Rides and Where Ride Companies Fit (2027)

Erie County has one Medical Assistance Transportation Program (MATP) operator: the Erie Metropolitan Transit Authority (EMTA), the county’s bus system, which runs medical rides through its LIFT paratransit division. That makes Erie different from its southern neighbor, where a hospital runs the program. This page covers how LIFT delivers MATP, how much of it there is, the rules riders follow, and what a private ride company can realistically chase here.

Who runs MATP in Erie County

Pennsylvania’s Department of Human Services (DHS) funds MATP county by county, and outside Philadelphia there is no statewide broker. The Pennsylvania guide covers the statewide rules, the Public Utility Commission license, and how county contracts work.

The state’s June 25, 2026 broker study puts Erie among the 38 counties on the county vendor model. In that model, a vendor, usually a transit agency, handles both the rides and the administration, and the county keeps oversight. Because county staff are not part of the daily work, the county claims no administrative costs. Erie County’s audited MATP schedule shows exactly that: $2,117,590 spent in the year ended June 30, 2024, every dollar of it on service and none on county administration, all paid by DHS.

EMTA’s MATP office sits at its headquarters, 127 East 14th Street, Erie, and answers at 814-455-3330 on weekdays from 8 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. It takes applications, pays mileage, and handles complaints and appeals. EMTA gives MATP riders one of three things, based on the least costly mode that fits them:

• Bus fare reimbursement on EMTA’s fixed routes, tracked on a form the medical provider signs.
• A LIFT van, which is wheelchair and walker accessible.
• Mileage reimbursement at the DHS rate, plus receipted parking and tolls, for riders who drive or have someone drive them. Mileage forms are due by the end of each quarter.

How much MATP work LIFT carries

LIFT is one shared-ride system paid by several programs at once. PennDOT’s performance report for fiscal year 2024-25 (July 2024 to June 2025) breaks down EMTA’s community transportation this way:

LIFT trips, fiscal year 2024-25	Trips
Medical Assistance (MATP)	54,975
Seniors 65 and older	44,371
ADA paratransit	39,903
Persons with disabilities program	920
Other shared ride	2,637
Total shared-ride trips	142,806

MATP is the largest single program on LIFT, at about 38% of trips. The same report lists 36 LIFT vehicles in maximum service, an average shared-ride cost of $38.96 per trip, and an average fare of $22.15 under a fare structure set in July 2018. Those are EMTA’s own costs, not a rate it pays anyone, but they show what a shared ride costs to run in Erie County.

LIFT also covers ground outside the city on a schedule. Trips in rural Erie County run in fixed time slots on four corridors: North East and Harborcreek, Edinboro and McKean, the west county (Fairview, Girard, Springfield, Lake City, Albion, Platea, and Cranesville), and the south county (Wattsburg, Waterford, Union City, and Corry). Riders on bus fare or mileage can still take LIFT for out-of-county medical trips to Pittsburgh and Meadville. See long-distance medical transport for how those trips are priced elsewhere.

LIFT’s service rules and the gaps they leave

EMTA’s LIFT manual, dated May 15, 2023, and its paratransit page set the rules a rider lives with:

• Booking. Reserve at least one day ahead, before 4:30 p.m., by phone at 814-456-2299. The scheduling office answers Sunday through Friday, 8 a.m. to 4:30 p.m., and EMTA does not take reservations by email.
• Pickup window. LIFT schedules pickups in a 30-minute window, and the driver waits five minutes after arriving.
• Cancellations. A trip canceled less than one hour before the window opens is a late cancellation, and a rider who does not come out within five minutes is a no-show.
• Days. EMTA and LIFT run Monday through Saturday, with no service on New Year’s Day, Easter Sunday, Memorial Day, July 4, Labor Day, Thanksgiving, and Christmas Day.
• Who it cannot carry. LIFT does not transport riders who must ride on a stretcher, who are too frail or ill to complete a trip safely, or who must be isolated for health reasons. Drivers are not trained to change or monitor oxygen tanks.
• Shared, not direct. The manual tells riders who need a nonstop trip to look at other options.

Those limits line up with what MATP itself leaves out. The state’s February 13, 2026 covered services list excludes stretcher service, so a Medicaid member in Erie County who needs a stretcher does not get it from LIFT. The Pennsylvania guide explains where those rides go. If that is your market, start with stretcher van requirements.

Who drives for LIFT and what EMTA pays them

LIFT’s drivers are EMTA’s own employees, covered by a collective bargaining agreement with ATU Local 568. EMTA’s May 21, 2026 job posting starts LIFT operators at $20.28 an hour, with two raises a year up to $25.98. Applicants need a regular class C license, a clean driving record, Act 33 and 34 clearances, and a DOT physical.

EMTA is hiring in volume. Its August 24, 2026 board minutes report 48 LIFT operator applications, 21 of them qualified, and two new operators who started August 3. For a private owner, that is the local wage you are hiring against. See NEMT driver pay and how to hire NEMT drivers.

How a private ride company can get Erie County work

1. Get your license first. Paid rides in Pennsylvania need Public Utility Commission authority, and the PUC plans on three months or more. The steps are in the Pennsylvania guide.
2. Ask EMTA directly. Call the MATP coordinator at 814-459-8922, ext. 245. Ask whether LIFT ever places trips it cannot cover with outside carriers, and who makes that call.
3. Watch EMTA’s bids. EMTA’s March 2024 procurement policy sends every purchase over $23,200 to a sealed bid or request for proposals, advertised in a local newspaper, and it posts large purchases on ride-the-e.com too. Its requests for proposals name the grants and capital planning director as the contact, as the March 2026 one for security services did (proposals were due April 14, 2026). That office is at 814-459-8922, ext. 129.
4. Serve what MATP leaves out. Stretcher service and door-through-door service are outside MATP statewide, and private-pay trips are outside it by definition. HealthChoices members in Erie County choose among four physical health plans in the Northwest zone: AmeriHealth Caritas Pennsylvania, Geisinger Health Plan, Jefferson Health Plans EverWell, and UPMC for You. See how to contract with Medicaid health plans and private pay NEMT.
5. Meet the people who plan rides. The Erie County Transportation Council for the Elderly and Disabled meets quarterly, and its last 2026 meeting is October 15. EMTA’s board meets at 4 p.m. at 127 East 14th Street, with remaining 2026 meetings on October 26, November 16, and December 14. Call 814-459-8922, ext. 211, to ask how to attend.

Nearby counties work differently. In Crawford County, Meadville Medical Center runs MATP and takes riders to appointments in Erie County. Warren County sits to the east. For long rural runs like the south county corridor, see rural NEMT.