93 answers.Every question we are actually asked about wheelchair and medical transportation across the Twin Cities — what a ride costs, whether Medicare pays for it, how long the driver waits, what happens when the appointment runs over. Search it, or read the lot. None of it changes when you dial.

$75 to put the ramp van at your door or $50 if you walk to it, then $3 a loaded mile in the chair and $2.50 if you walk, one way. A ten-mile wheelchair appointment run is $105; the same trip walking is $75. There is no booking fee, no surge and no fee for calling to ask.

Nothing is charged before that and no minimum is added on top, so a two-mile ambulatory run is $55 — the $50 base plus $5 in mileage. A short trip is a short bill.

The dispatcher works the figure off the same published card the website prints, quotes it, and reads it back before anything is held. Nobody here quotes a range and settles up afterwards.

You or your family pay us directly for the ride you took, at the figure quoted on the call. Cash is not accepted. No account, no membership, no subscription.

Inside that hour it is 10% of the fare. We would rather print that here than surprise you with it.

Holidays add 50% to the whole fare, mileage included: a $105 wheelchair run becomes $157.50 on Christmas. Weekends and anything outside 7am–7pm daily add 25% the same way. The two never stack — a holiday that lands on a Sunday takes the 50%, not both.

The base fare never doubles and the per-mile rate never changes. Each loaded mile past the first 15 simply adds $1 on top. Rochester and Mayo Clinic are regular runs — $420 one way in the chair.

The base fare — $50 walking, $75 in the chair — is charged once for the day, not once per leg. The mileage runs both ways: $2.50 a mile walking, $3 in the chair, for the whole there-and-back distance. If you would rather the van did not leave at all, Wait & Return prices the whole morning as one figure instead.

A pharmacy, a meal, a second address: additional stops are agreed before the ride begins and priced individually, so the figure you are told on the call is still the figure at the end of the day.

A spouse, a daughter, an aide — up to 3 additional riders travel at no extra charge, in the same van, on the same booking.

You or your family pay us directly, at the rates published on this page, and no broker schedules the van. If a plan or a county program is involved in your rides, say so on the call — we will tell you where you stand rather than let you guess at it from a website.

It does not pay for a car or a van to a routine appointment — only for an ambulance, and only when one is medically necessary. Our printed card is $50 base plus $2.50 a mile, paid direct. Some Medicare Advantage plans add a ride benefit; ask yours.

Original Medicare does not cover a wheelchair van to a routine appointment; some Medicare Advantage plans do include a ride benefit, so ask yours what it covers. Medical Assistance — Minnesota's Medicaid — does cover non-emergency medical transportation, arranged through your county or your health plan's ride service. Our own published card is private pay: $75 base plus $3 a mile.

It does not cover a van to a dialysis chair — only an ambulance, and only when one is medically necessary. Some Medicare Advantage plans include a ride benefit, which is worth asking about for a run this frequent. The standing slots we run are booked and paid direct, at the printed card.

It does not cover a ride to an outpatient procedure at all, waiting or otherwise. Some Medicare Advantage plans include a ride benefit, though rarely one that covers a driver waiting; ask yours what it allows. Our Wait & Return is the printed hourly rate, paid direct.

It does not pay for a van to a scheduled appointment at any distance — only for an ambulance, and only when one is medically necessary. Some Medicare Advantage plans include a ride benefit; ask yours whether it reaches out-state. The fares on the long-distance board are the private-pay ones, paid direct.

Coverage of any kind stops at rides to medical appointments; a grocery run is nobody's benefit. It is $50 base plus $2.50 a mile walking, at the same printed card as everything else we run.

You are quoted a figure and you pay it — no prior authorisation to file, no broker assigning the trip, no waiting on an approval. If your plan does reimburse transportation, ask what documentation it needs and we will put it on the receipt.

Medicaid is required to cover non-emergency medical transportation for the people it enrols, which is why almost everything written about NEMT describes a benefit rather than a service. It is not a definition. The same ride can be bought outright: no eligibility check, no county approval, no broker assigning the trip — you call, you get a figure, and the van is booked. In Minnesota, if you do have Medical Assistance, that ride is already paid for through your county or your health plan, and it is worth starting there.

You reach a person, not a queue. Tell them where you are going and when, the fare is quoted off the published card, and the slot is held before you hang up.

The pickup address, where you are going, the day and the appointment time, and whether the rider walks or uses a chair. Anything else — the building entrance, the mobility equipment, who to call when we arrive — we ask on the same call.

There is a form at /book that lays out everything we need, and filling it in is a good way to have the answers ready — but online requests are not switched on yet, so it hands you back to the phone rather than sending. A ride is confirmed by a person who checks the schedule, quotes the fare and holds the slot while you are still on the line. It takes about two minutes.

Same-day works when the schedule allows, and we will tell you that on the phone — not after you have booked.

Same-day rides are taken when the schedule has room, and you get a straight yes or no on the call rather than a booking that quietly fails. Mornings fill first.

Clinics move appointments; the ride moves with them. Changing or cancelling is free until an hour before pickup, and inside that hour it is 10% of the fare.

Have the pickup address, the appointment time, and whether they use a chair, and one call covers it.

A standing slot is the answer families land on: the same days, the same time, the same driver, booked one time and held until you change it. You do not take the morning off, and she is walked from her own door to the desk and back again.

Case managers, discharge planners, group homes, adult day programs and assisted living staff all book here. One call sets up a single ride or a standing route, and the invoice arrangement is agreed on the same call.

Earlier by arrangement, and the standing dialysis runs leave before six. If you need a 4am pickup, ask for one.

The driver walks you from your door to the desk and stays until you are checked in. Coming home, the same in reverse.

You are not watching a window or a map for a van that may or may not be yours. The driver parks, comes to your door, and walks out with you.

Every ride, no charge, no ceremony. It is a small thing, and it is the kind of small thing that tells you what the rest of the ride is going to be like.

Being understood at your own front door at 6am is not a small part of the service, and it is the complaint we hear most often about the alternative. Ask the driver anything; you will get a straight answer.

With a cane, a walker, or a steadying arm — if you can get to and into the van on your feet, the ride is ambulatory. Everything else is the driver's job.

Give us the hospital, the unit, and the time they expect to release you, then call when the paperwork is actually done. Walking or in a chair, you are met inside and walked to your own door at the other end.

One booking, one rider, straight there — you pick the pickup time and it is held for you, rather than a window you wait inside while the van collects other stops. It is private pay instead of a public program, and that is what buys the direct trip.

A sedan has nowhere to roll a chair up and nothing on the floor to strap it to, and the driver stays behind the wheel. Ours is a ramp van, the chair is anchored before we move, and the driver walks you in.

Scheduled transportation to and from appointments for people who cannot drive themselves or use a car — wheelchair riders, people recovering from sedation, anyone who needs an arm to the door. No sirens, no medical treatment on board, and it is booked in advance rather than dispatched. Most of what is written about NEMT online describes the Medicaid-funded version; TrueStar is the private-pay version, billed directly with no broker and no eligibility wait.

It is the industry's term for a scheduled ride to a medical appointment that does not need an ambulance. You will see it on state benefit pages and dispatch software far more often than on an operator's own site, which is why the phrase is worth spelling out: it describes what the van does, not a program you have to qualify for.

An ambulance carries paramedics, oxygen, monitoring and drugs, and it is dispatched to an emergency in minutes at a cost usually measured in four figures. NEMT is a booked appointment ride: a driver, a ramp or a steadying arm, no clinical care on board, and a published fare. If the rider needs care during the drive, or needs to travel lying down, that is an ambulance and we will say so on the phone.

Wheelchair riders, people who walk but cannot manage a bus or a parking ramp, anyone going home after sedation, and anyone whose treatment leaves them too tired to drive afterwards — dialysis, chemotherapy, infusion. There is no diagnosis to prove and no eligibility to establish; if driving yourself is not the plan, the ride is a phone call.

Power or manual, your chair is secured before the van moves. If you do not have one, we carry one.

The ramp van loads either, and the chair is secured before the van moves. You stay in your own chair the whole ride unless you would rather transfer to a seat.

You roll on at ground level rather than riding a platform up, which is steadier, quieter and quicker in a parking lot in February. The chair is then anchored to the floor before the van moves.

The manual chair we carry for riders without one is rated to about 350 pounds. If you ride in your own chair, its own rating is the one that matters and the ramp van loads it either way — tell us the model on the call if you are unsure.

Walkers, rollators and canes stow free, every ride. Tell us when you book so the driver has the space clear.

Riders travel with their own portable oxygen and that is routine. What we cannot do is provide it or manage it — we are a ride, not a clinical service.

The same vans run both. A wheelchair day is the $75 base instead of $50, and $3 a mile instead of $2.50 — say which when you book and the right setup arrives.

$100 an hour, flat, pickup to drop-off — same driver, same van, wheelchair or ambulatory. If the appointment runs an hour over, the van is still outside.

The clock runs from your door to your door — $100 an hour, flat, the driving included. A typical sedation morning runs about three and a half hours: $350.

The driver waits the whole appointment, walks you in, and walks you back to your door. Check your clinic's own escort policy; up to 3 family members can ride along at no charge.

Escort policies differ by facility, so check yours before the prep. What we do is fixed either way: the driver waits the entire appointment, walks you out, and takes you home — and up to 3 family members ride along at no charge.

Sedation discharge rules are the facility's to write and they differ, so ask yours before your prep day. What no rideshare does is sit in the lot for three hours, meet you at the door when you come out, and walk you into your own house — that part is the whole service here.

One booking covers the ride there, the wait, and the ride home, with the same driver both directions. If your clinic wants somebody you know beside you as well, up to 3 people ride along at no extra charge — so bringing a daughter or a neighbor costs nothing on top of the fare.

Colonoscopy and endoscopy are the common ones, and cataract surgery and dental IV sedation run the same shape: it is the medication rather than the procedure that means you should not drive afterwards. Any appointment you would rather not be dropped at the curb after is a booking.

The driver stays until you are done. An hour over is another hour at $100 — never a second dispatch, never a stranded ride home.

The figure follows the clock, so a short morning is a short bill — two hours door to door is $200, not the three-and-a-half-hour example. We estimate it on the call from your procedure time and confirm it before anything is held.

Wait & Return is $100 an hour whether you ride in the chair or walk to the van, pickup to drop-off. If you do not need the driver to wait, ordinary one-way rates apply instead.

The endoscopy and surgery centers across the metro — Plymouth, Maple Grove, St. Louis Park, Edina, Minneapolis — and any clinic or dental office in between. Give us the address and the procedure time; we build the morning backwards from it.

A standing slot is booked one time and held until you change it. No weekly phone call, no re-quoting, no losing the time you count on.

The published window is 7am–7pm daily, earlier by arrangement — and the standing dialysis runs leave before six. If you need a 4am pickup, ask for one. A pickup outside 7am–7pm daily carries the late-hour 25%, so an early chair time is quoted with that in it.

The same driver takes the same run. They learn your door, your building, and your chair time — which is the point of a standing slot.

Each leg is priced like any one-way: $50 ambulatory plus $2.50 a mile, or $75 wheelchair plus $3. Holding the slot costs nothing.

Cancelling is free until an hour before pickup; inside that hour it is 10% of the fare. The slot itself stays yours either way.

Chemotherapy, infusion, physical therapy, a weekly specialist — anything that repeats can hold a slot. Dialysis is simply the run that repeats most, three mornings a week for years at a time.

The centers in Maple Grove, New Hope, Golden Valley, Plymouth, Brooklyn Center, Champlin, Coon Rapids, Blaine and Elk River are on the weekly schedule, and so is any other one in the metro. Give us the address and your chair time and the slot is built around it, not the other way round.

You are met inside, walked to the van, and walked to your own door at the other end. After a treatment that is the part that matters, and it is the same on the four-hundredth ride as on the first.

Standing routes are set up the same way for adult day programs, group homes, assisted living and discharge planners as for a family: one call establishes the schedule, and the same driver runs it. A facility pays the published card — there is no separate facility price list.

Wheelchair, one way, 90 miles: the ordinary $75 base, $270 in mileage, and $75 for the 75 miles past the 15-mile radius. Ambulatory runs $350. Your own pickup address moves the figure a little, and we confirm it on the call before anything is booked.

Rochester, Duluth, St. Cloud, Mankato, and every town between. The base fare and the per-mile rate never change; each loaded mile past the first 15 adds $1.

A long run takes the van and its driver out of the metro for most of a day, and the extended-area mile is that cost — printed here rather than discovered on the phone. It is the only thing distance changes: the base fare does not double and the per-mile rate does not move.

Book the return with the outbound and the same driver brings you home. The base fare is charged once for the day; the mileage runs both ways: Rochester one way is $420, and there and back is $765 for the day.

Brooklyn Center to Rochester is 90 road miles, about an hour and a half of driving. The published window is 7am–7pm, and out-state runs leave before it by arrangement — tell us the appointment time and we work the pickup back from it.

Nothing forces the return to be the same day. Each leg is priced on its own, so an overnight is the outbound today and the trip home whenever you know it — $420 each way for the wheelchair run to Rochester.

A discharge in Rochester, Duluth or St. Cloud is the same run in reverse and the same per-leg price. Give us the hospital and the unit, and call when the paperwork is actually done — you are met inside and walked to your own door at this end.

Anywhere in Minnesota is the printed answer, and it is the one we can price from the card. Past the state line we quote the trip individually rather than pretend a formula covers it.

Outings are open to anyone — you do not need to be an existing client, and there is no medical anything required. Groceries, church, a birthday table: call and it is booked.

Wheelchair or walking, one guest or four — family gatherings, services and celebrations are ordinary bookings at the ordinary rates.

Seven days a week, 7am–7pm daily, earlier by arrangement. Weekends, and any ride outside 7am–7pm daily, add 25% to the fare; holidays add 50%. A $105 wheelchair run is $131.25 on a Saturday and $157.50 on Christmas — printed here rather than sprung on the phone. A holiday that falls on a weekend takes the 50% only, never both.

Take the 5-mile church run: there and back, base fare once, is $75 for the morning, and the same morning with the driver parked is $100 an hour, pickup to drop-off. The wait passes the round trip at about forty-five minutes door to door — shorter than that and waiting is cheaper, longer and two trips are. We work out both on the call.

The mall, a museum, a ball game, a restaurant across town: an outing is priced off the same card as every medical run — $50 base plus $2.50 a mile walking, $75 plus $3 in the ramp van. Say whether you want the driver to wait or to come back for you.

Loaded at the store, out again at your building, and carried to your own door with you — not left in the hall. Door through door means the shopping as well as the rider.

Plymouth, Maple Grove, Brooklyn Park, Minnetonka, St. Louis Park, Edina, Golden Valley, New Hope, Champlin, Coon Rapids, Blaine and Elk River are among the 16 cities on the daily map; the seven-county metro is the stated one. Pickup is at your address in any of them, and the fare is measured from where you get in.

Hennepin, Ramsey, Dakota, Anoka, Washington, Scott and Carver. The northwest metro is where the daily schedule sits, so an east-metro pickup is worth booking a little further ahead — the fare is the same published card either way.

The office and the vans are in Brooklyn Center, which is why the north and northwest metro — Plymouth, Maple Grove, Brooklyn Park, Golden Valley, New Hope, Champlin, Coon Rapids — is the map we run every day. From there we drive the whole seven-county metro and the state. Your pickup is your own address; the drive to it is ours, and it is not on the fare.

That is a federal registration number, not a badge we printed. Look it up in the FMCSA's own company snapshot and you will find this company, its authority and its insurance on file — which is a thing you can check about us in thirty seconds and cannot check about most of this industry.

First Aid, CPR, wheelchair securement and defensive driving — every driver, not a nominated one. The securement certificate is the one that matters most on a February morning, and it is why the chair is strapped and checked before the van moves.

Long enough to have learned which entrance the dialysis unit actually uses, and small enough that the person who answers the phone knows which van is where. We are not trying to be the biggest operator in the metro; we are trying to be the one that turns up.

Not a call centre, not a menu, and not an app that texts you a driver's initial. You will speak to the same operation that schedules the van and quotes the fare — and if a ride goes wrong, to the same number.

We seat wheelchair and ambulatory riders only. Bring your own oxygen and that is fine; we do not supply it. If a stretcher is what you need, we will say so on the phone rather than send a van that cannot take you.

We are non-emergency transportation: scheduled rides, booked ahead, no medical care on board. Chest pain, a fall, trouble breathing — that is an ambulance, and no amount of waiting for us is the right call.

We do not supply child seats and cannot fit one for you, so a child who needs a car seat is a ride we have to turn down. It is better said here than at the door.

Rides that need a trained escort or a secure vehicle are outside what we run, and we will tell you that on the phone rather than send a driver who cannot help. Wheelchair and ambulatory appointment transport is the whole service.