Taxi drivers in Singapore have seen how quickly technology changed the industry over the past few years.
For many of them, it’s hard to catch up.
Transport Minister Khaw Boon Wan revealed in May this year that 33.4% of Taxi Driver Vocational License (TDVL) holders in Singapore are between the ages of 60 and 74.
Some of them are now getting the chance to learn digital skills to help them navigate the new environment and stay relevant as they make their livelihood.
About 1,500 ComfortDelGro (CDG) taxi drivers have recently completed digital skills training, Straits Times reported.
They were the first batches of drivers to attend a customised SkillsFuture for Digital Workplace one-day course, which taught them how to accept digital payments from customers.
They learned how they can tap on helpful functions from apps to boost their productivity on the job, such as finding the hot spots with high taxi demand and checking on the latest traffic conditions through the CDG Driver App.
The training programme also walked them through some useful external apps.
Drivers who went through the course will now be able to use Parking.sg to pay for parking digitally at carparks without Electronic Parking Systems, and look up real-time flight arrival and the lengths of taxi queues at Changi Airport through Cabs@Changi.
ComfortDelGro Taxi CEO Ang Wei Neng shared that about two-thirds of the drivers who participated were in their 60s.
After the programme, 15 of them also volunteered to take on additional training to become facilitators for other drivers new to the programme.
The firm plans to train 10,000 out of their 25,000 drivers by the end of next year, before extending the programme to the rest of their drivers in the future.
Featured Image Credit: Expat Living Singapore
