If your way out of an evacuation is a city bus, a train or an official evacuation shuttle, put your pet in a closed carrier small enough to carry. That is what WMATA requires, and other agencies word their rules similarly. An official evacuation bus follows different rules from your everyday route, so ask your transit agency and your emergency-management office now, and keep a backup way out.
Two Systems, Two Sets of Rules
Almost every evacuation guide assumes a driveway and a trunk. If you have no car, two different systems can move you and your pet.
Your normal, everyday transit. On WMATA, a non-service pet rides only if it is in a closed carrier small enough to carry without crowding other passengers. Whether your agency changes its rule on an evacuation day is a question for the agency. New York City, for one, publishes an exception for pets too large for a carrier once an evacuation order is declared.
Official disaster evacuation transport. This is the shuttle or bus a jurisdiction runs to move people out of a hazard zone. After Hurricane Katrina, the PETS Act required state and local disaster plans to account for household pets and service animals. That is a planning mandate on the jurisdiction. It does not guarantee your city has a pet-ready bus staged and waiting.
What Ordinary Transit Requires
The Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Authority (WMATA, which runs DC’s Metro Rail and Metro Bus) publishes its rules in Tariff 49, effective July 1, 2026. The tariff allows small animals without charge if they are securely enclosed in a kennel, cage, box or other container small enough to carry without danger or offense to other passengers. It also says “pets, exotic animals, or emotional support animals are not permitted on Metro Rail or Metro Bus without the animal enclosed in a carrier.”
The wording has two parts:
- Enclosed. The pet is inside a closed carrier, not loose, not just leashed, not in an open-top tote.
- Small enough to carry. The container fits without taking a seat from another rider. In practice that means lap-sized or under-seat, not a rolling crate parked in the aisle.
Other agencies word it differently, and the difference matters. New York’s MTA guidance says “in a bag or other container,” which a large soft-sided or backpack-style carrier might satisfy. WMATA and BART say “enclosed,” which a bubble-window pack with the animal’s head exposed may not meet. Our renter’s evacuation plan compares the three agencies and documents the New York City emergency exception. One city’s rule does not travel to another, so read your own agency’s pet policy now.
Service animals are a separate category. WMATA’s tariff permits trained service animals on all Metro Rail and Metro Bus vehicles and exempts them from the container rule. It says comfort or therapy animals used solely for emotional support are not service animals under the ADA, and it requires them to be enclosed in a carrier like any pet. Other agencies word this differently, so check yours.
Why the Rules Changed After Katrina
During Hurricane Katrina, evacuation buses turned pets away. The Animal Legal Defense Fund describes people who brought their dogs and cats to the buses and were told by officials to leave the animals behind. It says many people in harm’s way decided not to evacuate because of the lack of options for their animals. A pet policy became a human-safety failure.
Congress responded with the Pets Evacuation and Transportation Standards Act, the PETS Act, signed in October 2006. Its text, preserved by Michigan State’s Animal Legal & Historical Center, requires emergency plans “that take into account the needs of individuals with pets and service animals prior to, during, and following a major disaster or emergency.” The AVMA adds that the Act authorizes FEMA to provide rescue, care, shelter and essential needs for households with pets and service animals, and for the animals themselves, after a major disaster or emergency.
States and localities that want federal disaster assistance now have to plan for evacuating and sheltering people with their pets. ALDF says more than 30 states have amended their disaster plans for companion animals and that pet-friendly emergency shelters are more common now than when Katrina hit. See pet-friendly shelters for how to find one.
A Mandate Is Not a Guarantee
The PETS Act ties planning to federal funding. It does not put a pet-ready bus on your corner. What each jurisdiction built is decided locally. ALDF notes that some communities still have no accommodations for companion animals. Ask what yours runs, and whether it expects you to bring your own carrier and reach the pickup point yourself.
Two phone calls or web searches, done today, settle it:
- Your transit agency. Ask what its standing pet rule is and whether it changes during a declared emergency. Get the carrier standard in its own words.
- Your local or county emergency-management office. Ask whether the jurisdiction runs pet-inclusive evacuation transport, where the pickup or staging points are, and whether you must pre-register a pet. This office operates a disaster evacuation bus, and its answer differs from the everyday transit rule.
Write both answers down and keep them with your go-bag.
The Transit-Legal Carrier
The same gear covers both systems: a closed, escape-proof carrier sized to ride on your lap or under a seat. It matches the everyday rule and is the safest way to move an animal through a crowded shuttle.
The Sherpa Original Deluxe is the default pick for a small pet. Sherpa markets it under its “Guaranteed On Board” program as “perfect for traveling by air, bus, car, or train”, and its spring-wire frame lets the rear end push down to fit under seats. It closes with what the maker calls “escape-proof locking zippers” and has mesh panels for a panting, stressed animal. Those features cover the two jobs a closed carrier has on transit: keeping a frightened pet from bolting and keeping it breathing in a warm, crowded space. The limits are that Sherpa’s published weight ceiling caps it at a small or small-medium pet, and that Sherpa publishes no folded dimension.
If you cannot spare a hand for a carrier while you manage stairs, a fare card and a crowd, a backpack carrier is the hands-free alternative for a small-to-medium dog. K9 Sport Sack recommends its Air line for “intermediate walks, hikes, public transportation, and bike rides”. The pack carries the pet across both shoulders with support straps and an adjustable collar enclosure. The caution: it is not fully enclosed the way a zipped soft carrier is, and a stricter agency that requires a pet “enclosed in a carrier” may not accept a pack with the animal’s head exposed. For backpacks versus slings on an on-foot leg, see our carrier backpack vs. sling guide. For the shell question, see the soft-sided versus hard-sided carrier comparison.