Nashville NEMT Licensing: The Metro Certificate for Disability Transport Vans (2027)

Metro Nashville licenses wheelchair van companies itself. The Metropolitan Transportation Licensing Commission (MTLC) has exclusive jurisdiction over vehicles for hire in Davidson County, and Metro Code Chapter 6.74 calls a special-purpose vehicle for hire built to carry passengers with disabilities a disability transport vehicle. A company that runs one needs a Metro certificate of public convenience and necessity, plus a Metro permit for each vehicle and each driver.

Who sends Medicaid trips in Nashville

Tennessee has no single state NEMT license, and each TennCare health plan books its rides through one broker: Verida for BlueCare and TennCare Select, and Tennessee Carriers for UnitedHealthcare and Wellpoint, as TennCare’s June 2026 ride sheet lists them. You need a TennCare Medicaid ID before either broker will consider you, as the Tennessee guide explains. See Verida in Tennessee and Tennessee Carriers for how each one adds companies.

Metro’s certificate is a separate step. The broker credentials you for its contract, and the MTLC licenses you to carry riders for hire on Davidson County streets.

Does a Nashville NEMT company need a Metro certificate

Metro Code 6.74.020 bars anyone from picking up passengers in Metro Nashville in a passenger vehicle for hire without a certificate from the MTLC director. As codified in Supplement 53 (December 2025), Chapter 6.74:

• defines a passenger vehicle for hire as one designed or modified for no more than 21 passengers, including the driver, and operated for hire
• defines a disability transport vehicle as a special-purpose passenger vehicle for hire designed or constructed to carry passengers with disabilities
• leaves out of disability transport service the rides a government agency gives as a public service, and rides a medical facility gives only to its own patients
• leaves out vehicles exclusively regulated and licensed by the state or federal government, but only where that regulation covers vehicle standards and inspections, liability insurance standards and verification, and criminal, medical, and driving record checks for drivers

With no state license for wheelchair vans, TennCare’s vehicle and driver standards reach companies through the plans’ broker contracts, as the Tennessee guide explains. Whether that counts as exclusive state regulation under Chapter 6.74 is the MTLC’s decision, so ask the Transportation Licensing Division in writing before your first paid trip in Davidson County.

Stretcher vans are a closer call. Tennessee’s Department of Health licenses invalid services, which carry riders on stretchers who need no medical care on the way, and permits each vehicle. Ask the division whether that state license meets all three parts of Metro’s exclusion before you skip the certificate.

Which class your vans fall in

Metro sorts each vehicle for hire into livery, shuttle, special-purpose, or TNC, working down that list until a definition fits. The code counts a limousine, sedan, SUV, or passenger van as a livery vehicle, and it defines a passenger van as a full-size van for up to 15 people, driver included, with no extended wheelbase or expanded seating. Under that order, a sedan or a full-size passenger van fits the livery definition first, and a vehicle designed or constructed for riders with disabilities that fits none of those is special-purpose. The MTLC rules, as amended August 18, 2026, describe a special-purpose vehicle as fully enclosed, under 10,001 pounds GVWR, with seating “for not less than six passengers, or more than 15, including the driver,” and never carrying standing passengers. A small ramp minivan may fall outside that seat count, so ask the division which class to request on your application.

The special-purpose class carries its own service rules. Trips are prearranged by written contract or through a third party, and the certificate can limit the service you described. Fares come from a rate schedule by destination or by time, never from a meter or mileage. If a broker pays you by the mile, ask the division how that rule applies to your trips. For riders who pay you themselves, see private pay NEMT.

How to get the Metro certificate

1. Check your owners. Every partner, officer, director, and member must be at least 21. None may have a felony, a controlled substance crime, or a sex-related crime within seven years, more than one felony at any time, or a Chapter 6.72 or 6.74 violation within five years. Each goes through a criminal background check at the company’s cost.
2. Fill out the company application. The form, revised August 23, 2022, asks for:
   • the class of service, and a detailed description of a special-purpose service
   • every owner and officer, each with proof of US citizenship or legal residency and a background check form
   • each person’s duties and passenger transportation experience
   • the number of vehicle permits, and a title or current registration for each vehicle
   • your driver training procedures and driver appearance rules
   • the daily manifest form your drivers will use
   • two references on your financial responsibility
   • proof of company and vehicle insurance naming the Metropolitan Government as additional insured
3. Sign before a notary. You swear the application is true, and a false statement can cost the certificate.
4. File and pay. The Transportation Licensing Division takes new applications and renewals online. It accepts cards with a 2.3 percent processing fee, cashier’s checks, and pre-printed checks, and it stopped taking cash on August 1, 2025.
5. Wait for the finding. Under 6.74.040, the MTLC director may issue a certificate if the MTLC finds more service is needed and you are qualified. The certificate names your class and can set limits on a special-purpose service.

If the MTLC denies your company, it will not consider a new application for 90 days, and after a second denial, for one year.

Metro fees for other passenger vehicles for hire

Section 503 of the MTLC rules, adopted August 18, 2026, sets the company application fee by fleet size: $200 for one to five vehicles, $500 for six to ten, and $750 for eleven or more. The application fee is nonrefundable. After that, each vehicle permit costs $50 a year, each driver permit $50, a replacement driver permit $10, and each background check $75.

Insurance for a Metro certificate

Metro Code 6.74.050 and the MTLC rules require this coverage before a certificate is issued or renewed, and you certify it under oath:

Coverage	Metro minimum
Commercial general liability	$1 million per occurrence, including contractual liability
Commercial auto liability	One master policy covering every vehicle under the certificate, at least $1 million combined single limit
Uninsured and underinsured motorist	$25,000 per person, $50,000 per accident, $15,000 property damage

The insurer must be licensed in Tennessee or an eligible surplus lines carrier with a rating that meets MTLC rules, and the policies name the Metropolitan Government as additional insured. Your insurers also send the MTLC quarterly reports listing the vehicles insured. TennCare’s contract limits, in the Tennessee guide, already reach $1 million, so Metro’s additions are mostly the single master policy, the uninsured motorist coverage, and Metro on the certificate. See NEMT insurance requirements.

Vehicle permits in Davidson County

• Ownership. Each van is titled, registered, or leased to the certificate holder, and your application includes a copy of each vehicle’s current Tennessee registration.
• Age. No more than 15 years old. For a vehicle already in service, you can ask for a one-year waiver by December 1 each year, and a waived vehicle gets a mechanical inspection every six months.
• Inspection. A detailed mechanical inspection by an approved mechanic every year. Metro’s form asks whether the mechanic is ASE certified and has the mechanic affirm no financial interest in any for-hire company. The code lists 22 items, from headlights and horn to brakes, seat belts, and speedometer.
• Decal. No vehicle runs for hire without a current inspection compliance decal, which the certificate holder issues under MTLC approval.
• Equipment. Air conditioning, inside and outside mirrors, two-speed wipers and washers, and a cell phone or two-way radio.
• Use it or lose it. Since June 1, 2025, the MTLC may revoke a vehicle permit left unused for six months or more.

The MTLC inspects a random sample of certificate holders at least once a year, and its staff may inspect any permitted vehicle. For choosing the van itself, see wheelchair vans for NEMT.

Driver permits

Drivers apply through your company, which certifies them to the MTLC director under oath. Each driver needs:

• to be at least 21, with a valid Tennessee license carrying the for-hire F endorsement, or a CDL
• an official Tennessee Department of Safety driving record dated within 30 days
• a Social Security card or birth certificate, and a current work permit if a resident alien
• a sworn statement of physical and mental fitness to drive for hire
• your company’s MTLC-approved driver training, and an approved hospitality course before the first permit and every year after
• a background check and a sex offender registry check

The code bars a driver with a hit and run, DUI, or reckless driving conviction within five years if someone was hurt or killed, or within three years otherwise, and the MTLC rules add felony reckless endangerment to that list. The code also bars anyone convicted within seven years of listed crimes, including homicide, robbery, burglary, domestic assault, sex offenses, and felony drug possession or sale. A new driver may have no more than three moving violations in three years and two in the last year. A new applicant who fails a drug test must wait six months to reapply, then pass a test and accept up to one random test a month for six months. Permits last one year. If the director denies a driver, the driver can appeal to the MTLC within 30 days and must appear in person at the next available meeting. A new application from that driver waits three months after the denial. See NEMT driver background checks.

Trip records Metro checks

• Daily manifests. Each trip’s time, place of origin, and the name of the passenger requesting it, kept 12 months on paper or in a format that cannot be altered. Our daily manifest template covers those fields.
• Trip tickets. For prearranged service, a record of when the trip was booked, the passenger’s name, the pickup date and time, the origin, and your company, made before the pickup and kept 12 months.
• Early arrival. Drivers may reach the pickup no earlier than 30 minutes before the requested time.
• Accidents. Under section 6.74.340, report to the MTLC director any crash that injures or kills someone or does more than $1,000 in damage to a vehicle or property. After a crash with injuries, the driver takes a drug screen within 24 hours or loses the permit.
• Changes. Tell MTLC staff before you change your address, company name, officers, or ownership.
• Renewal. Certificates renew yearly, at least 30 days before they expire. The annual report is due three months before expiration, and owners’ background checks are redone every five years.

Paratransit work through WeGo

WeGo Public Transit runs WeGo Access, the ADA paratransit service for Davidson County. As of October 2026, its vans run door to door from 4:45 a.m. to 1 a.m. every day, riders book one to seven days ahead at 615-880-3970, and a trip costs $3.70. WeGo says other vehicles, such as a taxi, may carry a trip when Access vans are not available.

In 2023, WeGo said it ran most Access trips in-house and bought overflow trips from contractors. Its September 2023 requests for proposals sought companies for overflow paratransit trips (RFP 2023130) and for its Access on Demand, Access Flex, and WeGo Link services (RFP 2023131), each for a five-year term. The second request offered a $30 per trip incentive for wheelchair trips on vehicles that also serve other riders, and it said taxis used for that work must meet MTLC rules and Metro Code Chapter 6.72. Watch WeGo’s procurement page for the next round.

What to do first

1. Call the division at 615-862-6777. Ask which class your vans fall in and whether your TennCare work needs a certificate.
2. Get your TennCare Medicaid ID and apply to Verida and Tennessee Carriers.
3. Run background checks on every owner and officer, and line up two financial references.
4. Write the paperwork Metro asks for: driver training procedures, appearance rules, and a manifest form.
5. Buy the insurance, with $1 million auto on one master policy, uninsured motorist coverage, and Metro named as additional insured.
6. Prepare each van and driver: an approved mechanic’s inspection for every vehicle, and an F endorsement or CDL for every driver.