TPDVL / TDVL - Taxi and Private Hire Car Driver Vocational Licence

I have noticed that there is a large presence of PHV in the Singapore roads in the recent years. My wife's commuting pattern has also changed due to the many promotional discount coupons that GRAB and UBER offers. 

My neighbor works for GRAB. He is an administrative staff and shared with me that I could use the Skillfuture credit to subsidize the vocational driving license course that Singapore Taxi Academy offers.

It was during that conversation with my neighbor that I learned about this two acronyms: 

• PDVL (Private Hire Car Driver Vocational Licence )  
• TPDVL or TDVL (Taxi and Private Hire Car Driver Vocational Licence )

I have worked in the Electronics engineering industry for the past 2 decades; have already seen a fair share of the ups & downs of this industry. "Retrenchment" is always lurking around waiting to claim the next victim... somehow this transportation service industry has never cross my mind till now.

Considering that my brain is still not old and "rusty" yet...I decided to heed my neighbor's advice to sign up for TPDVL course and so it began my journey to the TPDVL (Taxi and Private Hire Car Driver Vocational Licence )

A little online research and info gathering from my neighbor, I quickly learned that if I were to spend my time (& the Skillfuture credit) wisely, it is better to go for the TPDVL instead of the PDVL. The reason is simple, "T" includes Taxi license, which means once you pass the course, you have a broader choice to choose to join a taxi company (eg. Comfort, SMRT, SilverCab etc...) or a private-hire company (eg. GRAB or UBER)

Below is a table showing the main differences between PDVL and TPDVL.

(The cost between the two course is also different, please check the price indicated in the Singapore Taxi Academy website) 

 

 

	PDVL	TPDVL
Course  Pre-requisite	LTA approval letter to attend the   Vocational Licence course.	LTA approval letter to attend the   Vocational Licence course.
	Certified    by a registered    doctor to be    medically fit (VL    medical examination report    and Chest X-ray    examination report).	Certified by    a registered doctor    to be medically    fit (VL medical    examination report and    Chest X-ray examination    report).
	GCE N or O level English (Grade D7 and above)   or WSQ Conversational English (Competency level 3).	GCE   N or O level English (Grade D7 and above) or WSQ Conversational English   (Competency level 3).
Total training hours	10 hours (8 classroom hours with at   least 2 self-study hours).	25 hours (16 classroom hours with at   least 9 self-study hours).
Total number of Modules	1   Module	2 Modules - 8 classroom hours per module.
Full-time course	1 day - 8 classroom hours	2 days - 8 classroom hours per day.
Part-time course	4 days - 2 classroom hours per day.	8 days - 2 classroom hours per day.
Number of trainees per class	20   trainees (minimum) to 25 trainees (maximum).	20   trainees (minimum) to 25 trainees (maximum).

After tabling the differences, the decision is simple for me. 

 

I will sign up for the 2 days full-time TPDVL. If I am going to do this and get this license as my safety-net for my future, I might as well take the two day course which means also taking an additional test paper (Paper 3 - Route Planning). As what Mae West says:

“You only live once, but if you do it right, once is enough.”

What to do next ...?

(1) Download the "Application for Vocational Licence" form from OneMotoring website, fill it up, get ready the list of items listed in page1 and head towards LTA office in Sin Ming Road and submit the form (in person).

(2) I was told to wait for LTA to perform the necessary preliminary requirement checks, after which when LTA's verification process is completed, LTA will post a letter to me stating if I have met the requirements. 

(3) After 3 weeks of waiting ... I received the LTA's letter congratulating me that i have met its preliminary requirement etc. 

(4) Arm with the letter, I went to SATA to have my medical examination and x-ray. I was told to come back a few days later as the X-ray needs to be develop and review by doctor before she certify me fit.

(4) Upon getting my medical report a few days later, I went to Singapore Taxi Academy to sign up for the TPDVL course. (I was planning to sign for a weekend class, but i soon realize that only 2 dates were available to choose from. Reluctantly I chose the Jan4, 2018 class, which is a weekday 😭)

Jan4 to Jan5, 2018 - TPDVL Course

On day 1, every student will receive a 'gift' box from the instructor. In the box it contains all the course materials.

It is indeed frightening to see so many books, booklets and maps, considering that it is only a two days course.

It makes me wonder how could anyone possibly cover so much materials in such a short span of time.

Whatever course material given to students attending PDVL, students in TPDVL will get them too as they are identical. However, TPDVL has added materials.
Basically, the first day's lesson content in TPDVL class is the same as PDVL class.  It is the 2nd day's lesson that is unique to TPDVL course.

On day 2, students will be train to use the Streetdirectory. (Yes, Singapore streetdirectory! )

Not many younger driver now use streetdirectory or even have one. In this modern era, there is a thing call GPS but somehow (maybe) STA feels that in order to be a "Taxi uncle", you have to know how to navigate/plan your route using streetdirectory. 

IN addition to knowing how to use this ancient book, potential taxi-uncle MUST also possess superb memory to memorize 40 fix routes! (Yes, 40 !.... Four ... Zero !!!) 

Yup ... this is the day whereby i regretted opting for TPDVL.

In order to pass the TPDVL course, students have to sit for 3 paper and pass all 3 with flying colors...
Why flying colors? See below:

3 Test Papers:
Paper 1: Service Quality, Health & Safety - 50 MCQ (min score 80% to pass)
Paper 2: Rules And Regulations - 50 MCQ (min score 86% to pass)
Paper 3: Route Planning - 40 MCQ (min score 82.5% to pass)

Each paper is 60 minutes. The 3 papers examination is back-to-back. Starting from 9am till 12pm.
You finish early, you are allow to leave the room for a break and return to start the next paper at the next hour.

Some personal study tips to share ... :

- Paper#1 - Study/focus on those that the instructor emphasizes.You have to catch the instructor's tone and facial expression... If he says this is important, it means it is IMPORTANT!

- Paper#2 - Paper 2 is mainly on the rules/regulations and demerit points system, penalties etc...

Ask your wife or mother to cook a lot of herbal soup that could boost your memory retention ability, because there is no other way to study except to memorize; memorize and memorize!!!

- Paper#3 - Speed !!! Speed !!! Speed !!! in using the streetdirectory.  And also memorize the 40 fixed routes and hope that those routes that you are familiar or have local knowledge of will appear as one of the question. 

( Alternatively, if you are a person that tends to be lucky during guessing game, you could try eliminating 1 of the 3 answers, which effectively after eliminating 1 of the choices, your odds increase to 50% of getting the right answer! 😋)

I was pretty lucky to have Mr. W as my instructor. He taught the class a unique method to help memorize the things in order to pass Paper#2. His method works for me! 

(leave me a message if you want to learn about this method. Click to download the excel file.)

Jan11, 2018 - TPDVL Test Day

Arrived at STA at 8am. Went for breakfast and sat quietly outside Room#3 (my examination room ...)

At around 8.50am, the invigilator called out to all the people sitting along the corridor to enter the test hall. 

Each table has an iPad and a Singapore Streetdirectory. 

Obediently I placed my NRIC and driving licence at the top-right-hand corner of the table and proceed login to the iPAD. Once you are ready and hit the Start Test button, the clock starts...

Oh... Forgot to mention earlier. Paper#3 is the first test paper, not Paper#1.

The instructor told us that Paper#3 requires a lot of eye-focus and speed in using the streetdirectory, hence STA decided to put Paper#3 as the first test paper as they felt that examinee is mentally more fresh in the morning and will do better. ( How nice of them...👏👏 )

Paper#3 is not easy...and a piece of advice from my experience... ...if you find yourself stuck in a question and losing time, just based on your best guess and pick an answer and move onto the next question. (you have a 33.33% chance of getting it right if you randomly pick an answer. But if you leave it blank, it is definitely a NIL. )

I managed to finish my Paper#3 with only a few minutes left on the clock. I return to a few questions that i have marked for review as i was unsure of the answer. It was then that the invigilator came by my desk and ask me to start Paper#1. He took my iPad and ended my Paper#3 test and to my surprise... I passed!!!

Paper#1 is a much easier than Paper#3... It is a matter of reading the questions carefully and picking the answer that make the most 'common' sense. I pass this paper without much problem, and i believe not many will have problem passing too. Hence I shall not talk too much on this paper.

Paper#2 is the killer for TPDVL and PDVL course. 

My instructor told us that most student fail Paper#2 and many fail marginally. (86% score to pass)

As I have mentioned in my post earlier, its all about memorizing work!

After 3 grueling hours ...

I have passed Paper#3 and #1...I am into the final minutes of paper#2 test. 

I looked through a few questions that i have doubts and decided that i have given my best and my brain is drained. 

I hit the End-Test button and it shows ... PASS! 

My gosh!!!...I thought to myself... I have pass all 3 papers in one sitting !!!

 

At that moment... all i could think of is to leave the room and buy myself a cup of coffee and break the good news to my wife.

I have completed my journey to TPDVL ... 😆

Here is the link to download the excel file:

Click here to download the excel file.