Manpower plan to attract, train, retain bus captains launched

SINGAPORE — Amid long-running difficulties in attracting locals to the bus industry, the authorities have stepped in with a new Sectoral Manpower Plan (SMP) to attract and retain bus captains, with the aim of growing the pool of bus captains to around 12,000 from the current 9,200 over the next five years.

The plan, which comes under the national SkillsFuture programme, will be implemented over the next few years, and comprises five strategies, which encompass a new Singapore Bus Academy for training and career resources, and better support for those seeking to join the industry. 

For example, the Land Transport Authority (LTA) will partner the Employment and Employability Institute (e2i) to implement the Career Transition Programme. Potential recruits will undergo preparatory workshops  and learn more about available career paths through industry previews conducted by the public bus operators, and learning visits.

The LTA will also introduce an accelerated Class 3 driving licence course to help recruits attain a Class 4A driving licence more quickly, which qualifies them for the Omnibus Driver’s Vocational Licence (ODVL) — an industry requirement for public bus drivers.

The SMP was announced on Friday (May 6) by Senior Minister of State for Transport Mrs Josephine Teo, who chairs the Public Transport Sectoral Tripartite Committee that developed the plan. 

It comes as changes are being rolled out in the bus industry, with new entrants Tower Transit and Go-Ahead entering as operators under the Government’s bus contracting model. 

Said Mrs Teo: “Our aim is to transform the bus profession so that it is more attractive, skills-intensive and respected. 

In particular, we will help the Singaporean core of bus professionals enjoy good career development and be ready for future transitions.”

A Memorandum of Understanding to establish the Singapore Bus Academy was signed on Friday between the LTA, e2i, the Singapore Workforce Development Agency, the National Transport Workers’ Union, SBS Transit, SMRT Corporation, Tower Transit Singapore, and Go-Ahead Singapore.

The academy, located at the Devan Nair Institute in Jurong East, will begin operating from the second half of this year. New bus captains will receive comprehensive foundational training under the five-day Enhanced Vocational Licence Training Programme offered there, covering areas such as vocational licence regulations and safe-driving techniques. Other people in the bus industry will be able to upskill when more programmes are rolled out in the future.

“The academy is not meant to duplicate or overlap with anything out there. It will be a coordinator and fill in the gaps where they are … complement what is already out there and bring in other courses to make sure every single bus professional is a well-rounded one,” said e2i chief executive officer Gilbert Tan on Friday.

Under the SMP, the ODVL, which used to be tied to a particular operator, will also be fully portable across the industry. This means that bus captains who join another bus operator need not re-apply for the ODVL, which can sometimes take an average of up to two months.

In a bid to build a pipeline of future bus professionals, the LTA also signed an agreement with Republic Polytechnic to introduce more bus-related content within the final-year curriculum of the Diploma in Engineering Systems and Management programme.