LTA urges private hire car drivers to affix decal, apply PDVL by June 30
From July 1, 2017, all private hire cars that provide chauffeured services must display a pair of tamper-evident decals on the front and back windscreen of their vehicles. A decal seen being affixed on a vehicle on June 23, 2017. Photo: Esther Leong/TODAY
SINGAPORE — Ahead of the July 1 deadline, some 27,000 private hire cars had been affixed with tamper-evident decals as of Wednesday (June 21), while about 500 private hire car drivers had registered and attended the course to obtain their private hire car driver’s vocational licence (PDVL) course.
About 39,000 PDVL applications had been received, of which 36,000 had been processed, said the Land Transport Authority (LTA) on Friday.
“Of these, about 1,300 have been rejected either because of failed background checks or because they did not have the minimum two years’ Class 3/3A driving experience. These were requirements put in place to safeguard commuter safety,” it added.
From July 1, all private hire cars which provide chauffeured services must display a pair of tamper-evident decals on the front and back windscreen of their vehicles.
“This is to allow for easier identification of registered private hire cars, and facilitate enforcement against offences such as unregistered cars providing chauffeured services, or private hire cars picking up passengers by street-hail,” said an LTA spokesperson.
As of May 31, there were 61,732 private hire cars, out of which 42,805 were chauffeur-driven private hire cars. The rest were self-drive types.
Only chauffeur-driven private hire cars need to be affixed with the decal.
Drivers who have yet to obtain their PVDL will have until next Friday (June 30) to apply. Otherwise, they will not be able to provide chauffeured services until they receive their licence.
Drivers who have sent in their PDVL applications before June 30 will have up to one year to attend and pass the PDVL course. “Drivers are encouraged to take their PDVL course early,” said the LTA spokesperson.
Full-time Grab driver Calvin Chan, 47, who chauffeurs an average of 30 to 40 passengers a day, visited the Singapore Taxi Academy’s (STA) Vehicle Inspection Centre at Sin Ming Road in April to have the decal affixed on his car, after receiving a letter from the LTA.
“With the decal, passengers are more confident in our driving skills, and it gives us drivers a sense of job ownership and responsibility,” the former outdoor salesman said.
He added that the PDVL course had also helped him revise and clarify traffic regulations and rules. “It’s good for me, and good for passengers.”
Meanwhile, Uber driver Fong Chee Siong said that affixing the decal “does not really make a difference to (him)”.
“It doesn’t affect me much so I’m okay with it,” the 51-year-old said.
However, Mr Fong, who has driven with Uber for 11 months, said that some of his friends using their personal cars said that they had problems removing the decal when they wanted to use the vehicle for a private purpose.
According to the LTA, failure to affix the decals, and any form of tampering like defacement, altering, covering, obscuring are offences under the Road Traffic Act.
Private hire car drivers can get their decals affixed at VICOM, JIC and STA Vehicle inspection centres. Those who registered on or before Feb 28 can also get their decals affixed at the Uber Affixing Centre at Big Box or Grab Affixing Centre at Midview City, available up to June 30.
