Motormouth: I went back to school to become a cabbie

Becoming a licensed taxi driver involved studying hard for an exam, which got me all stressed out.

[Story by guest columnist Ben Chia]

When I left my last full-time job in October 2025, I didn’t actually have any concrete plans as to what I wanted to do next.

The idea was to take some time out to recalibrate myself, and evaluate my options as to what my potential next career step could be.

As the year came to a close though, I was thinking about how I could put my SkillsFuture credits to good use. After all, there was $500 worth of credits expiring at the end of December, and I didn’t really want it to go to waste.

I found out that you could use it to take the Taxi Driver Vocational Licence (TDVL) course, and it seemed like an intriguing prospect to me. Not that I had the intention of driving a taxi full-time, but I figured that having the TDVL at least gave me the option to do so if I wanted to. 

I signed up for the course at the ComfortDelgro (CDG) training hub in Sin Ming. CDG is one of the two approved operators to administer the course in Singapore, the other being NTUC Learning Hub. I went with CDG because it is, after all, a taxi operator, and the trainers there would probably know a thing or two about training taxi drivers.

The course typically takes place over two days, but because I needed to use up my SkillsFuture credits before they expired on 31 December, I was put into an “accelerated” course that squeezed the curriculum into a single day. And so, two days before the end of the year, I found myself in CDG’s classroom from 8am to 10pm.

There are three tests you need to pass before you can get your TDVL. 

The first test covers a variety of general knowledge topics - ranging from industry facts, customer service ethics, and even a mild refresher on Traffic Police regulations.

The second test focuses on the rules for vocational drivers, which are apparently completely different from the rules that are applied to regular drivers. As vocational drivers (those who drive buses, taxis, and private hire vehicles) are considered public service workers, they are held to a higher motoring standard than regular drivers, and face stiffer penalties with lower thresholds for licence suspension or disqualification.

The third test, which only applies for taxi drivers and not private hire drivers, involves navigation. Basically, it tests you on finding the shortest routes between places, and identifying local landmarks using navigation apps.

To be honest, it was the second paper which I was most stressed about, because it required memorising an all-new set of laws and their respective penalties. After the full-day CDG crash course, I spent a whole week cramming into my memory the relevant fines and demerit points for a whole bunch of offences before my test date.

I shouldn’t have worried too much though, because I eventually passed the exam with only one wrong answer out of 90 questions in total across the three papers. 

It felt weird to be studying for an exam so many years after graduating from school, but now that I’ve passed the big test and gotten my Taxi Driver Vocational Licence, I guess it opens up a whole new career choice for me. 

I just have to decide whether I want my next ride to be blue or yellow.

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