News

LTA Streamlines Vocational Licence Scheme 
Posted on Monday, February 28, 2005 - 12:00 AM

The Land Transport Authority (LTA) is pleased to announce that it is streamlining the Vocational Licensing Scheme for the convenience of all taxi and bus vocational licence holders. The changes, which will take effect from 1 March 2005, will also help about 130,000 vocational licence holders to reduce the costs of applying and renewing their licences.

Under this revised scheme, only one type of bus driver licence, the General Bus Driver Vocational Licence, will be issued that will allow the holder to drive any type of bus, including omnibuses. Existing categories of bus driver's vocational licences ¹, except the omnibus driver's vocational licence, will be converted to the General Bus Driver Vocational Licence. Omnibus driver's vocational licences are only issued to drivers of SBS Transit and SMRT Buses.

Streamlining of Vocational Licence Scheme For Taxi and Bus Drivers

With the streamlining of the vocational licence scheme, vocational licence holders will only need to renew their licence once every three years, instead of annually. Taxi Driver Vocational Licence holders will be required to attend the refresher course once every six years instead of once every five years.

Vocational licence holders who are between 50 and below 65 years old will only need to undergo medical check-ups biennially instead of annually. In addition, vocational licence holders who are taxi drivers will no longer be required to undergo x-ray examinations once every two years. The changes in the medical requirements were made after consultation with the Ministry of Health.

The application, issuance and renewal fees for the vocational licence will also be revised. The application fee for the issuance of the first vocational licence will be $40 and the subsequent renewal fee will be $40. The vocational licence will be valid for a period of three years. Currently, the application fee is $20 and the issuance and subsequent renewal fees are $15 each and the licence is valid for a period of one year.

General Bus Driver Vocational Licence

To streamline the licensing requirements for bus drivers, LTA will be rationalising all existing categories of bus driver's vocational licences, except the omnibus driver's vocational licence, into a single category - the General Bus Driver Vocational Licence.

This rationalisation of the bus driver vocational licences will enable bus drivers to switch between driving different types of buses in response to market changes in the industry, as a General Bus Driver Vocational Licence holder will be able to drive any type of public buses including omnibuses. Bus companies will also have a wider pool of vocational licence holders to tap on.

The training syllabi for the various categories of bus driver vocational licence will be combined so that a new Bus Driver Vocational Licence applicant is trained on the rules pertaining to all types of bus operations.

For existing vocational licence holders, those holding one or more types of bus driver vocational licence, except the omnibus driver vocational licence, will be deemed to hold a General Bus Driver Vocational Licence from 1 March 2005.

Background of Vocational Licensing Scheme

A person who would like to be a driver or conductor of a public service vehicle, such as public bus or taxi, is required to hold a vocational licence granted by the LTA.

A person who wishes to apply for a vocational licence must meet the entry criteria before he is allowed to attend training courses.

An applicant for a taxi driver vocational licence must be a Singapore Citizen of at least 30 years of age. He must possess a qualified Class 3 Singapore driving licence with at least one year's driving experience and a clean driving record.

An applicant for a bus driver vocational licence must be at least 21 years old. He must possess a qualified Class 3 Singapore driving licence with at least one year's driving experience and a clean driving record.

Those who pass the courses will then be issued the vocational licence. The renewal of the licence is also subject to the licensees meeting LTA's renewal criteria. These criteria pertain to CPF Medisave, medical and other requirements.

Details of the vocational licence scheme are available at the ONEMOTORING portal ( http://www.onemotoring.com.sg .) under the FAQ section.

PRESS RELEASE - 28 Feb 05

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¹ There are generally five categories of bus driver's vocational licence (VL): the school bus driver's VL; the excursion bus driver's VL; the private hire bus driver's VL; the Scheme B bus driver's VL; and the omnibus driver's VL.