Empress Ambulances take up position near New Rochelle Fire Station 1 on Harrison Street (Photo courtesy of James O'Toole)

New Rochelle Makes Unexpected Midnight Switch in Emergency Transportation Services

Written By: Robert Cox

NEW ROCHELLE, NY — The City of New Rochelle has terminated its contract with TransCare effective at midnight tonight.  Empress Emergency Medical Services will take over ambulance services under a 90-day emergency contract. A new emergency transportation contract will be put out for bid in the coming months.

The move came amidst a year of well-documented financial woes at TransCare.

According to City officials, New York State was on the verge of cancelling TransCare’s workers compensation insurance effective at midnight tonight, a possibility that left TransCare in default on their contract with the City of New Rochelle due to reporting requirements in the contract.

New York State renewed TransCare’s workers compensation insurance earlier today but by that time the City had already made the decision to switch to Empress.

“We wanted to make sure the City was covered and would not experience any loss in ambulance coverage”, said City Manager Charles B. Strome.

City Council members were notified of the change via email late this afternoon and will discuss the matter at the next City Council Meeting on Tuesday.