The Land Transport Authority (LTA), after several rounds of consultations with industry stakeholders and associations, have made recommendations to ensure that point-to-point transport is sustainable.

Due to the growing similarities between taxis and private hire car services, LTA decided that the eligibility criteria for both should be aligned.

There was no minimum age for private-hire drivers before this.

Here are the new regulations.

All new Private Hire Car Driver’s Vocational Licence (PDVL) applicants must be Singapore Citizens who are at least 30 years old at the point of application, with a minimum of one year of driving experience.

These revisions serve to fully align the eligibility criteria for the PDVL and TDVL (Taxi Driver's Vocational Licence).

All PDVL applications received before 5:30pm on September 15, 2020 will continue to be processed under the previous eligibility criteria.

Existing PDVL holders who are below 30 years old or are Singapore Permanent Residents will not be affected under this new rule.

The proportion of PHC drivers below 30 years old is small, and PHC operators have shared that the majority of them are driving part-time.

They will be able to continue providing PHC services so long as they renew their PDVLs before expiry.

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