Ramp or lift
A ramp minivan loads faster and costs less to maintain; a lift van handles power chairs and heavier riders and carries more people. Most NEMT and ambulette fleets run both and dispatch by trip.
NEMT van, ambulette, medical transport van: the name changes with the state and the broker, the job does not. It is a wheelchair van that earns its keep on medical schedules: dialysis three times a week, oncology appointments, discharges, and the standing pickups that keep a non-emergency medical transport business running. The vehicle has to load a chair quickly, secure it properly, and do it again forty times a day without wearing out the driver.
TESCO covers this work from two directions. Ramp-equipped minivans, BraunAbility conversions of the Chrysler Voyager and Pacifica, handle one or two chairs with the lowest operating cost in the category. Lift-equipped Ford Transit vans and low-floor RAM ProMaster vans carry more chairs and more ambulatory riders when a route mixes both. Every unit leaves Oregon, Ohio with securements installed and inspected.
