This is the beginning of the end: Driving institutes

JOHOR BARU: Driving institute operators feel a proposal by the Land Public Transport Commission (SPAD) to remove public service vehicle (PSV) licences for cabbies could soon be the beginning of the end for driving schools.
"First it is PSV and next, we won't be surprised if SPAD and the government will remove the responsibility of driving schools for carrying out goods driving licences (GDL) training," Johor Driving Institute Association secretary Teoh Kock Kee told theSun.
Stating that there were attempts in the past by a private consortium to take over the vocational training segment, Teoh said driving institutes have contributed significantly to the road safety skills and level of service of commercial vehicle drivers.
"For many years, we have been working closely with the Road Transport Department (RTD)," he said. "Besides, we have improved many aspects of training for taxi, bus and lorry drivers at our facilities."
Malaysian Driving Industry Standards and Modernisation Council (Mapim) president Datuk Hanafi Mat Zin had questioned SPAD's ability to train cabbies on the right skills to ferry passengers.
"We are concerned if SPAD has the experience and aptitude to train cabbies on the right temperament and behaviour," Hanafi said.
However, a public transport advocate has endorsed the PSV abolishment proposal by SPAD and stated that, "over the years, PSV licence has been a useless exercise."
"There was hardly anything to gain from the briefing and driving instructions at driving school, and some of the (learner) drivers that failed the objective test somehow managed to get their PSV licenses," said Y. S. Chan, who enrolled for a PSV course in 2000 after holding a PSV license since the 70's.
He said the government should not just stop at just removing the PSV license.
"Enhance it with a new mechanism such as Public Service Driver (PSD) license for all drivers that carry fare-paying passengers," said Chan with over 40 years of experience in the automotive and transport industry.
Last Thursday, theSun had reported that SPAD has proposed to the Cabinet to abolish the PSV licence only for cabbies and e-hailing drivers next year.
It is learned that the proposed abolishment of PSV licence for cabbies will be replaced by the SPAD driver's card system while the training of e-hailing and taxi drivers will be done by transport network operators or external training consultants for individual taxi permit holders.
The proposal is among 11 initiatives under the e-hailing and transformation models for the taxi industry being considered by the Cabinet which has in April, received an endorsement from the Special Economic Committee chaired by the prime minister.