What a ride costs.Wheelchair and ambulatory medical transportation across the Twin Cities, on a formula we publish in full: $75 plus $3 a mile in the chair, $50 plus $2.50 if you walk, $100 an hour when the driver waits. No form, no email, no waiting for a call back.
- $75Wheelchair, one way, plus $3 a mile
- $50Ambulatory, one way, plus $2.50 a mile
- $100An hour when the driver waits for you
How a fare is built.
A base fare and a distance. Nothing is kept back, and there is no version of this page that a dispatcher keeps in a drawer.
Every ordinary trip is a base fare for the kind of ride, plus a rate for each loaded mile the van drives — a loaded mile being one with you in it, measured pickup to drop-off. The base is $75 in the ramp van and $50 if you walk to it, and it pays for the part of the job that costs the same whether the clinic is four miles away or forty — the driver, the vehicle, securing your chair, and walking you from your own door to the desk and back again.
The mile itself is $3 in the ramp van and $2.50 walking. Past the first 15 miles each further mile adds $1 on top — that is the whole of what distance does, and the base fare never doubles.
Miles are measured by road, door to door: the route a driver would actually take, not a straight line drawn across a map. Fares round to the nearest dollar. That is the entire calculation, and you can run it yourself in about fifteen seconds.
- $75 / $50
The base, by kind of ride
$75 for a wheelchair ride in the ramp van, $50 for an ambulatory rider who walks with an arm. It is charged once for the day — a round trip does not pay it twice.
- + $3 / $2.50
Then the loaded miles
$3 a mile in the chair, $2.50 walking, on the real road distance between the two addresses. A 12-mile wheelchair trip is $75 + $36 = $111, one way.
- + $1/mi
Past 15 miles
Each loaded mile beyond the first 15 adds $1. A 90-mile run to Rochester carries $75 of it. The base fare stays the base fare at any distance.
- ×2 mi
There and back: mileage doubles, the base does not
A return trip drives the miles twice, so the mileage (and any extended-area fee) is charged twice — $147 for the trip above, not $222. The base fare is paid once for the whole day. If the driver should stay for the appointment rather than come back for you, the ride is priced by the hour instead.
- $100/hr
Or the driver waits
Wait & Return is $100 an hour flat, from your door back to your door, and the driving is inside it — no separate mileage on this one. It is the same rate whether you ride in the chair or walk.
Rather not do the arithmetic? Put your two addresses in the meter
Every rate, printed.
These are the private-pay figures the dispatcher quotes on the phone. There is no other sheet.
| $75+ $3 a mile | Wheelchair, one wayRamp van, your own chair secured, door to door. A return trip is the same figure a second time. |
|---|---|
| $50+ $2.50 a mile | Ambulatory, one wayWalking riders, arm to arm. The driver sees you checked in and settled before leaving. |
| $100an hour | Wait & ReturnThe driver stays for the whole appointment. The clock runs pickup to drop-off and the driving is inside it — there is no separate mileage on this one. |
| +$1a mile | Past 15 milesEach loaded mile beyond the first 15 adds $1, on each leg. The base fare does not double and the per-mile rate does not change. Rochester and Mayo are the common ones — $420 one way in the chair. |
No rideshare fees. No surge. No booking fee. The four things further down are the only ones that move a figure on this page.
Four real trips, priced line by line.
| Base fare | $75 |
|---|---|
| 12 miles × $3 | $36 |
| One way | $111 |
|---|
There and back, $147 — base fare once, mileage twice. Inside the 15-mile radius, so nothing is added for distance.
| Base fare | $50 |
|---|---|
| 8 miles × $2.50 | $20 |
| One way | $70 |
|---|
There and back, $90 — base fare once, mileage twice. In the chair, $99 each way.
| 3.5 hours × $100 | $350 |
|---|---|
| Mileage | — |
| Door to door | $350 |
|---|
Distance does not price this one. Up to 3 ride along free.
| Base fare | $75 |
|---|---|
| 90 miles × $3 | $270 |
| 75 mi past 15 × $1 | $75 |
| One way | $420 |
|---|
There and back in a day, $765. The base fare is the ordinary $75, charged once — distance is priced by the mile, twice, not by doubling the base.
Yours is not on this list. It takes about fifteen seconds to price it on the same card — real driving miles, exact figure, nothing asked of you first.
Price your own tripRates last checked against what the dispatcher quotes on .
What can change this price.
All five, at the same size, including the one nobody enjoys printing.
- 3 free
Riders who come with you
A daughter, a husband, a neighbour — up to 3 additional people ride in the same van on the same booking at no extra charge. It matters most after sedation, where a family member can come along for nothing on top of the fare.
- +50%
Holidays
We drive on all of them. Half again goes on the whole fare — mileage included, not the base alone, which is the part a surcharge usually doesn’t say out loud: a holiday wheelchair trip is $112.50 plus $4.50 a mile, and ambulatory is $75 plus $3.75.
- +25%
Weekends and late hours
A quarter again on the whole fare for a Saturday or Sunday ride, and for any ride outside 7am–7pm daily — the early dialysis run before 7am and the pickup after 7pm alike. It never stacks with the holiday rate: if a holiday falls on a weekend you are charged the 50%, not both.
Extra stops
No published rate, because it depends on the stop. A pharmacy on the way home is fine, and it is priced before the ride begins rather than added afterwards — which is why the meter won’t quote one. The dispatcher will, in about a minute, on the phone.
- 10%
Cancelling under an hour before pickup
10% of the fare, because by then the van has left and the slot is gone. Cancel earlier than that and there is no charge at all. It is printed here, at the same size as everything else, because a fee you find out about afterwards is a hidden one whatever the invoice calls it.
The meter prices the ordinary trip — one pickup, one drop-off, an ordinary day. Run yours through it
Who pays, and how.
The figures above are private pay, in plain words: you or the family member booking pay us directly.
Paid direct, quoted before you book
Card or check — cash is not accepted. No broker schedules the van and no deposit holds the slot — the fare is quoted on the call, read back before anything is booked, and that is the figure you pay. Ask for an itemised receipt and you will have one; some long-term care policies reimburse against it, and that is between you and your plan.
It is also why there is a price on this page at all. A company that bills a broker never has to tell you what a ride costs, because you were never the one paying. We are, so you are, and you should be able to read it at eleven at night without filling in a form. If you want the arithmetic behind a figure rather than the figure itself — what a wheelchair ride costs in Minnesota takes a fare apart, part by part.
Medicare, Medicaid and insurance
Original Medicare covers ambulance transport when it is medically necessary. It does not pay for a wheelchair van to an ordinary clinic appointment. Some Medicare Advantage plans include a limited ride benefit — ask yours what it allows.
Medical Assistance — Minnesota’s Medicaid — already pays for non-emergency medical transportation through your county or your health plan’s ride service, and it costs the rider nothing. If that is your coverage, it is worth starting there before you pay for a ride you may not have to.
And 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.
What the fare covers
The van, the driver, and the part most quotes leave out: your chair secured before the van moves, and the walk from your own door to the desk and back — not to the curb. Up to 3 people ride along at no extra charge, so a daughter or a neighbour costs nothing on top. There is no separate charge for the ramp, the chair, or the securement, and the rate is the same at 5am, on a Sunday, and in every city we drive to.
What we do not carry
No stretchers — that is an ambulance, and if it is what you need we will say so on the phone rather than send a van that cannot take you. No oxygen supplied, though riders bring their own and that is fine. No car seats, and no behavioural health transport. A ride we cannot do properly is worse than a ride we turn down, and it is cheaper to find out here than at the curb.
Asked about the price.
The cost questions we are actually asked, including the coverage ones. Open a row for the rest — none of it changes when you dial.
13 answers
What does a ride actually cost?Base fare, plus the miles.
$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.
Every rate, printedWhat is the smallest fare?The base and the miles.
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.
Is the ride home a second fare?The mileage, yes. The base, no.
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.
Do long trips cost more?Past 15 miles, a little.
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.
Long-distance ridesHow much to Mayo Clinic?From Brooklyn Center, $420.
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.
The statewide faresDo holidays cost more?Yes — half again.
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.
Everything that can move a fareCan we stop on the way?Yes — quoted first.
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.
Who can ride along?Up to 3, free.
A spouse, a daughter, an aide — up to 3 additional riders travel at no extra charge, in the same van, on the same booking.
What if I have to cancel?Free, until an hour before.
Inside that hour it is 10% of the fare. We would rather print that here than surprise you with it.
Will I know the price before I book?Yes. On the call.
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.
Price your own tripDoes Medicare or Medicaid pay for a wheelchair van?Two different answers.
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.
What a wheelchair ride costs in MinnesotaAre you licensed?USDOT 4471059.
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.
Look up USDOT 4471059Tell us the two addresses and the appointment time.
We will quote the fare on the call, hold the slot, and read it back to you before we hang up.
Have these ready
- The pickup address, and the clinic or building you are going to.
- The date and the appointment time.
- Wheelchair or ambulatory, and whether the chair is yours.
- Whether the driver should wait, or come back for you later.