The rules governing both publicly funded and privately funded transportation were written and are enforced by the U.S. Department of Transportation.

• The ADA does not cover airline travel.
• If a city or county has a fixed route system (one where buses or vans follow a definite route over and over without regard to requests from riders), there must also be a paratransit system to meet the needs of people who due to their disability cannot use the fixed route system.
• A system that picks up riders when they request such rides is called a demand-response system.
• All new fixed route buses bought by city or county systems must be lift equipped. If a city or county system buys used buses, they must make every effort to buy lift buses.
• A city or county system may contract out transportation services to a private business. The private business must still meet all the requirements of publicly funded transit systems.
• All transportation systems must comply with the NON-DISCRIMINATION and EQUALLY EFFECTIVE COMMUNICATION obligations of the ADA.
• A well maintained system is part of the NON-DISCRIMINATION obligation of transit systems.
• A pattern of breakdowns of accessibility features may be judged to be discrimination.
• The transit systems must do frequent maintenance checks on all disability related equipment including lifts, lock downs, elevators, and talking signage. If a bus has a broken lift or tie down, it must be removed from duty before the next day and cannot be returned until its equipment is in good working order.
• If a city has a population of over 50 thousand, the transportation system must provide alternative transportation if the next accessible bus is over thirty minutes away.
• The bus driver must assist riders using lifts and becoming secured.
• The bus driver cannot refuse to allow a person with a disability to board from a bus stop that non disabled people board from. Examples: he/she cannot say that it is too crowded for a wheelchair to board, or that the traffic is too heavy to wait for lift boarding.
• Bus drivers must announce key intersections and transfer points as well as requested stops so that people with certain disabilities such as visual impairments, learning disabilities, or cognitive impairments, can know where they are and when their stop comes up.
• Commuter buses, those that follow a route during the morning and a reverse route in the evening coming from and to the outer edges of the city, are not required to have paratransit service on those routes.

3 criteria for using paratransit service:

Cannot navigate the regular bus system

Needs accessible bus

Specific impairment related condition (e.g. cannot use bus just after dialysis)

One associate may ride paying with person with disability and or an attendant can ride without paying.

Paratransit Service requirements:

Must operate along same routes as fixed route buses

Can charge up to twice what fixed route costs

Must accept next day reservation

No more than 50% of riders can be subscription

Purpose of trip is irrelevant

Paratransit must keep same hours as buses on its route

Reservations offices must be open the day before paratransit runs so that riders can always make next day reservations

Reservation agents can negotiate with riders for pick up time but, the rider cannot be required to schedule a trip to begin more than an hour before or after individual's desired departure time.

Riders must be allowed to make reservations up to 14 days in advance

If application for paratransit is not approved or denied within 21 days, the rider must be allowed to use the paratransit system until the application is approved or denied.

Visitors who have a paratransit card may use the system in the city they are visiting for 21 days without additional applications requirements.

Riders may lose their paratransit rights if they repeatedly fail to show up for rides.

All rail stations are required to be fully accessible by 2010.

Taxi companies are required to comply with the NON-DISCRIMINATION and the EQUALLY EFFECTIVE COMMUNICATION requirements of the ADA but they are not required to have lift equipped vehicles.

For the most part, privately funded transportation systems are required to provide equivalent service to riders with and without disabilities. Example: a hotel that provides shuttle service for its guests to nearby shopping must have a means of providing transportation to these shopping areas for people who need lift vehicles.