Senior Transportation in Georgia: Rides for Seniors (2026)

When an older adult in Georgia stops driving, the hard part isn't that rides don't exist. It's that there is no single senior transportation program in Georgia, only several separate systems, each with its own rules and its own front door. The state's aging network offers rides through the Older Americans Act, run by Georgia's Division of Aging Services through 12 Area Agencies on Aging. Public transit like MARTA must offer door-to-door paratransit to riders who can't use the bus. Georgia Medicaid covers medical rides through a statewide broker. And a volunteer and private layer fills the gaps.1,2,3,4 Which door you knock on depends on who your parent is and where they're going, and one phone call to your local Area Agency on Aging sorts most of it out.5

In This Guide

• Key Takeaways
• Why There's No Single Senior Transportation Program in Georgia
• Georgia's Aging Network: Older Americans Act Rides
• MARTA Mobility and ADA Paratransit in Georgia
• Medical Trips: Georgia Medicaid NEMT, and Why Medicare Usually Won't
• The Volunteer and Private Layer
• Which Georgia Senior Transportation Option Fits Which Trip
• How to Start: One Phone Call
• Frequently Asked Questions
• Learn More

Why There's No Single Senior Transportation Program in Georgia

Families across Georgia go looking for "the senior transportation program" and can't find it, because it isn't one thing. What exists instead is a set of separate systems, each with its own rules, its own paperwork, and its own idea of who it's for. One is built around age, one around disability, one around who insures your parent's health care, and one around whoever in the community is willing to drive.

That sounds like a mess, and from the outside it is. But it resolves into a simple question you can answer trip by trip: who is the rider, and where are they going? A ride to dialysis for someone on Georgia Medicaid runs through a different door than a ride to the grocery store for a 72-year-old in Macon who just let their license lapse. The rest of this guide walks the menu one option at a time, adapted for Georgia, then lines the options up so you can match each to the trip in front of you.

Georgia's Aging Network: Older Americans Act Rides

Start here, because it's the widest door and the least known. The Older Americans Act requires that a protected share of each area's funding go to a set of "access services," and transportation is named among them, right alongside information and assistance and case management.1 That makes rides for older adults a funded part of the aging network rather than a favor a local agency does when it has room.

In Georgia, that network has a specific shape. The Georgia Department of Human Services Division of Aging Services administers Older Americans Act programs through 12 Area Agencies on Aging that together cover every county in the state,4 and transportation is one of the supportive services those agencies fund. Georgia's aging-services rules describe it as transportation "to older adults, people with disabilities, and accompanying caregivers through direct service, contract, or partnerships with other community entities," delivered through the state's Coordinated Transportation system, set out in the Georgia DHS HCBS Policy Manual, Section 218.

Two features make this the first call.

• There's no income test. An Area Agency on Aging and its providers may not means test for a service for which contributions are accepted, and may not turn away an older adult who won't or can't contribute.6 Your parent may be invited to chip in voluntarily, but savings don't disqualify them.
• The age bar is low, and disability qualifies too. The Act defines an "older individual" as someone 60 or older.8 Georgia's own transportation rule sets eligibility for a rider who is "age 60 or older, have a disability, or have Alzheimer's disease or related dementia," or a caregiver who must accompany one of those people (Section 218).

Georgia also spells out which trips these rides prioritize. Its "essential trips" for aging-network transportation include trips to and from senior centers, medical appointments (including dialysis and chemotherapy), preventive health screenings (dental, vision, hearing), shopping for groceries and medications, and work (Section 218). What the ride itself looks like is local, and might be a senior-center van, a dial-a-ride service, a volunteer driver, or a voucher, depending on your Area Agency on Aging. Because the local program has a local name, the way to find it is to ask the agency directly. Our guide to finding and using your Area Agency on Aging covers that call in full.

MARTA Mobility and ADA Paratransit in Georgia

This is the option families most often don't know is a legal right. Under the Americans with Disabilities Act, a public transit agency that runs fixed bus or rail routes must also provide complementary paratransit, a door-to-door or curb-to-curb ride, to people whose disability keeps them from using the regular fixed-route service. The service has to be comparable to the fixed-route system it shadows, cover origins and destinations within three-quarters of a mile of a route during the same days and hours, and cost no more than twice the regular fare. There's one carve-out worth knowing before you go looking: commuter bus, commuter rail, and intercity rail systems are exempt, so a regional park-and-ride coach or an intercity train owes no paratransit, while a local bus or rail system does.2

In metro Atlanta, that ride has a name: MARTA Mobility. MARTA describes it as the service "that provides ADA Complementary Paratransit service to anyone unable to ride or disembark from our regular MARTA transit services" (MARTA Mobility). A few Georgia-specific details are worth knowing before you apply:

• It follows the MARTA map. MARTA Mobility operates within an ADA-designated service area in Fulton, DeKalb, and Clayton Counties and the City of Atlanta, along a three-quarter-mile corridor on each side of every fixed bus route and within a three-quarter-mile radius of each rail station (MARTA Mobility). If your parent lives well outside that area, MARTA Mobility won't reach them, and the aging-network or Medicaid options matter more.
• The fare is low and capped. A MARTA Mobility trip costs $4.00 (MARTA Mobility Fares), and federal rules hold a paratransit fare to no more than twice the regular fixed-route fare.2
• Eligibility is about function, not age. Qualifying turns on whether a disability prevents fixed-route use, which MARTA determines through an application and an in-person interview and assessment (MARTA Mobility). Age alone doesn't qualify a rider, and being older doesn't disqualify one.

MARTA Mobility only covers the Atlanta region. Elsewhere in Georgia, smaller city and county transit systems that run local fixed routes carry the same ADA paratransit obligation, but a regional commuter coach doesn't, so if the only service reaching your parent's county is a park-and-ride run into Atlanta, there's no paratransit behind it.2 Counties with commuter service only, and rural areas with no fixed-route transit at all, lean on the aging network's Coordinated Transportation instead. If your parent lives outside metro Atlanta, ask your local public transit provider for its ADA paratransit application, or ask your Area Agency on Aging what serves the county.

Medical Trips: Georgia Medicaid NEMT, and Why Medicare Usually Won't

When the trip is to a medical appointment, the rules change, and the single most useful thing to know is which program insures your parent.

Georgia Medicaid covers medical rides. Non-emergency medical transportation (NEMT) is a required part of every state's Medicaid program: a state must ensure necessary transportation for its beneficiaries to and from their providers.3 In Georgia, the Department of Community Health delivers this through a single statewide broker. According to Georgia's Department of Community Health, as of April 1, 2026, Verida is the sole broker for Georgia Medicaid NEMT across all five of the state's regions (North, Atlanta, Central, East, and Southwest). If your parent is on Georgia Medicaid and has no other way to get there, rides to dialysis, chemotherapy, or regular doctor visits are a covered benefit at no cost, arranged by calling Verida, usually at least three business days ahead of the appointment (Georgia Medicaid NEMT). This is a payer benefit, not an aging-network one, so it's the right door specifically for medical trips for a Medicaid member. See our guide to Georgia Medicaid non-emergency medical transportation for how to book, and how to appeal.

Original Medicare, by contrast, covers transportation narrowly. Part B covers ambulance transportation, and only in defined circumstances: when traveling in any other vehicle could endanger your health, and then only to the nearest appropriate medical facility.7 That catches Georgia families out, and it's the source of a lot of unexpected bills. If your parent has a Medicare Advantage plan rather than Original Medicare, check the plan: some Advantage plans in Georgia add a limited transportation benefit, but it is a plan feature, not something Medicare itself guarantees.

The Volunteer and Private Layer

Underneath the funded programs is a patchwork that often does the everyday work of getting an older Georgian to a hair appointment, a place of worship, or a friend's house. Georgia's Division of Aging Services itself points families to a mix of "public transit, paratransit, volunteer driver programs, voucher programs, taxi cabs, carpools, senior center vans, and rides with family or friends" (Getting Where You Need to Go).

• Volunteer driver programs. Many Georgia communities run programs where screened volunteers drive older neighbors, sometimes coordinated by the Area Agency on Aging, a senior center, or a faith community. Availability and cost vary widely by county, so ask the Area Agency on Aging what operates locally.
• Ride-share and concierge services. App-based ride services, and phone-based concierge services built for people who don't use smartphones, can fill in for spontaneous trips. These are private and paid out of pocket, and quality and coverage vary, but for a parent who can still transfer in and out of a car independently they can be the simplest option for an unplanned trip.
• Senior centers and community shuttles. Some Georgia senior centers, retirement communities, and grocery or medical facilities run their own shuttles on set routes and days.

None of this layer is an entitlement, and it's the part that varies most from one Georgia town to the next, which is exactly why the Area Agency on Aging, whose job is to know the local map, is the efficient place to ask.

Which Georgia Senior Transportation Option Fits Which Trip

The menu resolves into a matching problem. Line the options up against who the rider is, what the trip is for, and what it costs, and the right door usually picks itself.

Read it as a decision, not a ranking. A Georgia Medicaid member going to dialysis starts with Verida. A 68-year-old in Savannah who just stopped driving and wants to keep getting to the grocery store and church starts with the Area Agency on Aging and, if a disability keeps them off the bus, a MARTA Mobility or local paratransit application. Most families end up using more than one, one for medical trips and another for everything else.

How to Start: One Phone Call

For everything except the Medicaid medical benefit, the same first call does the sorting. Georgia's Aging and Disability Resource Connection (ADRC) line, 1-866-552-4464, reaches the Division of Aging Services system and routes you to the Area Agency on Aging that serves your parent's county.4 Nationally, you can also reach the same local agencies through the Eldercare Locator at 1-800-677-1116, a free public service that connects you to the agency for your parent's address.5 Look it up by the address where your parent lives, not where you live, because the agency is defined by their location.

When you reach the agency, name the actual trips: "My father is 74, lives in Cobb County, no longer drives, and needs to get to a cardiologist twice a month and to the grocery store weekly." A specific request gets a specific answer, which local programs exist, whether he'd qualify for MARTA Mobility, and what each one costs. If your parent is on Georgia Medicaid, also contact Verida for medical rides, since that benefit runs on a separate track.

Learn More

Find personalized help arranging transportation for an older adult in Georgia who no longer drives at brevy.com.

The information on Brevy.com is for educational purposes only and is not a substitute for professional legal, financial, or medical advice. Rules vary by state and program and change frequently. Always verify with the relevant agency or a qualified professional. Brevy is not a law firm, financial advisor, or healthcare provider.