Drivers Employed by Public Transport Operators

Assoc Prof Dr Muhammad Faishal Ibrahim asked the Minister for Transport (a) what is the number of Singaporeans who are employed by the public transport operators as public bus drivers over the past three years; and (b) whether he can provide information on the training and orientation provided to foreign public bus drivers employed by the public transport operators.

Dr Lim Wee Kiak asked the Minister for Transport (a) how many foreign public bus drivers were recruited by the public transport operators over the past three years; and (b) what are the educational and language skills criteria that the public transport operators have adopted for employment of bus drivers.

The Minister of State for Transport (Mrs Josephine Teo) (for the Minister for Transport): Mr Speaker, Sir, may I have your permission to take Question Nos 6 and 7 together?

Mr Speaker: Yes, please.

Mrs Josephine Teo: Thank you. Dr Faishal Ibrahim has asked how many Singaporeans were employed by the Public Transport Operators (PTOs) as public bus drivers over the past three years while Dr Lim Wee Kiak has asked how many foreigners have been recruited over the same time period.

As at the end of December 2011, the PTOs employed 4,405 locals, which include citizens and Permanent Residents (PRs), as bus drivers, who make up 60.5% of their driver pool. This compares to 4,620 local bus drivers or 64.4% at the end of 2010, and 4,890 or 65.8% at the end of 2009.

The PTOs have found it increasingly difficult to recruit Singaporeans as bus drivers, especially younger Singaporeans. Rising educational attainments mean higher career aspirations. PTOs have also experienced higher driver attrition, as the logistics and construction sectors have begun to offer better remuneration and work conditions, such as shorter work hours. Attrition has numbered around 1,000 each year or 14% of the driver pool.

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The PTOs continue to work hard to reach out to Singaporean job-seekers and were able to recruit an annual average of 280 locals over the last three years. However, to maintain service levels and cater to fleet expansion, the PTOs have had to look beyond Singapore to recruit more bus drivers from foreign countries, mainly from Malaysia and the People's Republic of China (PRC). Over the last three years, PTOs have recruited an average of 800 foreign bus drivers annually.

Dr Lim Wee Kiak has asked what educational and language skills criteria the PTOs adopt for the employment of bus drivers, and Dr Faishal Ibrahim has asked about the training and orientation provided to foreign public bus drivers employed by the PTOs.

Potential recruits who are Singapore Citizens or Permanent Residents must have at least Secondary 2 education, or equivalent, and be able to speak basic English. Those from the PRC must possess at least secondary school-equivalent qualifications and be able to converse in fluent Mandarin. Preference is given to those who understand English.

In addition, all bus drivers must have either a Class 4 or Class 4A driving licence, and also fulfil the requirements set by the LTA to obtain an Omnibus Drivers' Vocational Licence (OBDVL). This requires at least a year of driving experience with a clean driving record. LTA also requires all trainees to pass a course on the relevant rules and regulations from the Road Traffic Act.

Once employed, all trainee bus drivers have to attend a mandatory training programme organised by the PTOs. This programme covers training in bus operations, customer service and safety, safe driving, emergency handling procedures and selected aspects of the public transport system, such as fare structure and bus schedules.

PTOs will additionally put their PRC drivers through English classes to improve their proficiency in basic functional and conversational English. Before they can be deployed, all trainee bus drivers undergo on-the-road training to familiarise themselves with the bus routes and the different types of buses.

The PTOs constantly review their training and refresher courses on driving safety. Bus drivers will also be sent for additional training on defensive driving and smooth driving when deemed necessary. LTA will continue to work with the operators to improve their training syllabi to raise the service levels where necessary.

Assoc Prof Dr Muhammad Faishal Ibrahim (Nee Soon): Sir, I would like to thank the Minister of State for the reply. Public bus drivers are among the first few persons whom Singaporeans would meet daily when taking the public transport. So, I think it is important that these bus drivers are continuously immersed in the Singaporean culture, norms and also driving habits. I would like to know whether the PTOs are putting in continuous effort to ensure that these foreign bus drivers are actively engaged to be able to understand the Singaporean norms and culture, so that they can effectively engage commuters as well as do the job better to serve the Singaporean commuters and those who live in Singapore. Secondly, I would like to know if there have been active and continuous efforts put in, together with the PTOs, to see how we can employ Singaporeans, such as efforts in doing job re-design to make their schedule much better and, at the same time, improve their pay package, so that we are able to employ more Singaporeans who are able to understand the norms and culture of Singaporeans. I have received feedback that they feel more comfortable being served by them.

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Mrs Josephine Teo: Sir, I thank Dr Faishal Ibrahim for his questions. Perhaps I could take the second question first, and that relates to the efforts of the Public Transport Operators (PTOs) in reaching out to Singaporeans in their effort to retain a Singaporean core amongst their pool of bus drivers.

Indeed, it is the intention for us to continuously improve the work conditions of the bus drivers so that Singaporeans continue to be attracted to these jobs. I would say that, if we look at the recruitment numbers over the last three years, although it has been difficult, the recruitment efforts have not entirely been in vain. There have been Singaporeans who are willing to come forth to serve as bus drivers. This has to do with the extensive efforts by the PTOs to reach out through many different channels to get bus drivers. This includes exhibitions at various fairs that are organised by the Community Development Councils (CDCs) and also the self-help groups, and quite a lot of these take place regularly. For some time now, the PTOs have also, at the bus interchanges, set aside certain periods of the week where they conduct walk-in interviews. In other words, people who are interested to be bus drivers can walk in during those times and be assessed immediately for their suitability to be bus drivers. These efforts are on-going.

One of the other efforts which the PTOs have embarked on, which is also very commendable, is to reach out to their drivers who are about to retire and offer re-employment opportunities. These re-employments are offered on fairly good terms. The bus drivers will see their pay levels being sustained before and after re-employment, and their other benefits are also retained. This has enabled them to be able to keep these experienced bus drivers. Just to give Members a sense, for SBS Transit, two out of five of their drivers who reached retirement age, and were offered re-employment, have actually accepted it. In the case of SMRT, the figure is even better. About two in three of their bus drivers accepted re-employment upon it being offered to them. These efforts are on-going and, obviously, would have be kept up.

On Dr Faishal Ibrahim's question on the wage level, this is also an area that is being actively looked into. Minister Lui Tuck Yew had earlier shared that in the forthcoming Committee of Supply, there will be an update on what the discussions are. At that time, we will be able to reveal more details.

To the first question that Dr Faishal Ibrahim raised on norms and culture, and how foreign bus drivers can be given more opportunities to interact with Singaporeans and to be able to relate to them in the way that they are used to, perhaps, I could share with Members that, for SBS Transit, for example, when the bus drivers are recruited, they go through a training programme. For non-Singaporeans who are perhaps assumed to be less familiar with our culture and norms, the training period is actually quite significantly longer. In the case of PRC drivers at SBS Transit, for example, the training period is about seven weeks, compared to four weeks for the Singaporean drivers that they recruit. So, it is considerably longer. One of the modules, for example, that is covered in this extended training period is English Language.

But, of course, as we know, language is not something that we learn in the classroom over the course of several days and are able to master, because there are different ways in which the language is spoken in the community, and these different ways in which they are spoken take time to get used to. So this is a continuous effort, and the PTOs are very aware of it. If there is specific feedback from members of the public regarding specific drivers, PTOs will also look into them and make available refresher courses, not just for language but also on city driving and other aspects.

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Dr Lim Wee Kiak: Mr Speaker, Sir, let me thank the Minister of State (MOS) for her answer. I have a few supplementary questions. Firstly, I would like to know what is the average wage for the bus drivers and whether there is a difference between the local bus drivers versus the foreign bus drivers. I am not sure whether this is sensitive information or will the Minister be presenting it in the COS. Secondly, I am quite surprised to hear that we have a very high attrition rate, almost about 1,000 bus drivers out of a combined pool of about 4,000-plus, that 1,000 attrition every year and the replacement is about 280 per year, which means they have to recruit the remaining 700 to 800 from overseas every year. I would just want to find out the reason for this very high attrition rate and whether anything is being done to tackle it.

Thirdly, in the licenses given to the PTOs, is there any clause to say what percentage of bus drivers must be Singaporeans in the first place so that they would not say, "I could not employ locals, therefore, I employ all foreigners in the end"? Last of all is, why PRC? Why is speaking fluent Mandarin a criterion? Why not other English-speaking countries like India in the first place, then it is easier, since English is the common language for all of us?

Mrs Josephine Teo: Mr Speaker, Sir, Dr Lim has asked about the wages of the bus drivers. This is something that is for the PTOs to address. I can convey the Member's information request to them and they can respond to him if appropriate.

On the question of attrition, perhaps I should make a clarification. What I said was that, each year, between the two public bus operators, about 1,000 of the bus drivers leave service, and this translates into an attrition rate of 14%. So it is 1,000 and 14%. In terms of the recruitment, it is 280 locals on average over the last three years, and 800 foreign bus drivers averaged annually over the last three years. That is just to put those numbers into context. Dr Lim has also asked: why this high turnover rate? If we look at the turnover relative to other service sectors that also experience heavy competition for labour, 14% is, I would say, not so out of the ordinary, although it is the number that we still want to pay attention to. The main reason, really, has been that in a very tight labour market, many job opportunities have opened up for the bus drivers. Given a choice, the bus drivers may leave for the advantages the other job offer. These may not always pay higher salaries, but in terms of the work conditions, which may be quite attractive to some of the drivers.

Two things that have emerged among the reasons why the public bus drivers choose to go and work in other sectors are, firstly, in terms of the work hours they find that it is better for family life. Secondly, also in many other areas of work, they may not necessarily have to face the public, and have to deal not just with the technical aspects of driving but also the customer service. So these are two factors that have emerged that public bus drivers have concern about.

On the Member's third question on whether in the licensing for the PTOs, there is a requirement for them to hire a minimum number of Singaporeans. Actually, the PTOs, like all other commercial enterprises operating in Singapore, are subject to the same foreign worker policies that the Ministry of Manpower administers. What it means is that the dependency ratio ceiling, commonly referred to the foreign worker quota, applies to the PTOs as well. What it means is that there is a certain core of Singaporean drivers that they must always keep.

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As to Dr Lim's final question, I am sorry that I do not have the information with me right now, so I would have to take it up with him separately.

Mr Speaker: Mr Pritam Singh. Last question.

Mr Pritam Singh (Aljunied): Thank you, Mr Speaker. I would like to thank the Minister of State for her reply to the question. If I heard her correctly, the statistics that were introduced earlier covered locals and PRs. Later, the Minister of State went on to say that there is a shortage of Singaporeans applying for these jobs as bus drivers. Could the Minister of State please share with us, of the local and PRs in the statistics, how many are Singaporeans and how many are PRs so that we then have a clearer idea of what is the nature of the lack of Singaporeans taking up these jobs? When we have a figure which includes locals and PRs, it may not go specifically into how many Singaporeans, particularly citizens, do those sorts of job.

Mrs Josephine Teo: Sir, in response to the Member Mr Singh's question, broadly two in three of the numbers that I have cited as locals are citizens. I hope that addresses his question.

Dr Lim Wee Kiak: Mr Speaker, Sir, I would like to ask the Minister of State: out of the 1,000 or 14% that leave the service every year, what is their nationality. What are the percentages for Singaporean PRs versus foreigners? My concern is that if more Singaporeans are resigning, then every year we are recruiting more foreigners which will change the equation.

Mrs Josephine Teo: Mr Speaker, Sir, perhaps to allay the Member's concern, we must also realise that there is a difference between the terms of employment for locals as well as foreigners. Foreigners are here on contract. Some of them, at the end of the contract, will leave the service and they are also counted within that 1,000. If we were to look purely at the rates of attrition, then it might seem that the attrition rate would be higher among the foreigners. But a large part of it is because they have completed their contracts. I do not think that it is possible to draw very clear conclusions just by looking at those numbers.