Regulating fees charged by driving centres

Mr Fadli Fawzi: To ask the Coordinating Minister for National Security and Minister for Home Affairs (a) whether the fees to learn to drive, such as enrolment and theory lesson fees, are regulated by Traffic Police or any other Government agency and (b) if not, whether the Ministry has conducted any assessment to determine if the recent increase in fees by the three driving centres represents anti-competitive behaviour; and (c) whether the Government will take any action to manage costs of learning to drive.

Answer:

Mr K Shanmugam, Coordinating Minister for National Security and Minister for Home Affairs:

1. Driving schools are required under the Road Traffic Act to charge fees for instruction that the Traffic Police (TP) considers fair and reasonable. Such fees include enrolment, theory and driving lesson fees.

2. Recently, the three driving schools had submitted separate fee increase proposals to TP. TP had assessed each proposal on its own merit and noted that the intent of the fee increases was to keep up with rising operating costs and raise the wages of driving instructors to improve recruitment and retention. As part of the fee increase, the driving schools have committed to increase the wages of driving instructors. This is expected to increase the supply of driving lessons and reduce wait times.