4.2 Scheduled VLPS Offences & Composition Sums
Key Takeaways
- Scheduled offences carry 3, 5, 6, 12 or 21 demerit points; there is no 10-point or 24-point band in the VLPS.
- Plying for hire, driving with no decal displayed, permitting another person to use your vocational licence, and disclosing an in-vehicle visual recording each carry 21 demerit points and a $500 composition sum.
- Taking a ride-hail fare inconsistent with the fare pricing policy, or above the published fare, carries 12 demerit points if the excess is less than $20 and 21 demerit points if it is $20 or more.
- Failing to deposit property left in the vehicle carries 5 demerit points after more than 24 hours and 21 demerit points after more than 7 days.
- Several everyday offences carry a composition sum but no demerit points, including stopping at a taxi stand ($50 first offence, $80 subsequent) and stopping within 9 metres of a bus stop ($50).
4.2 Scheduled VLPS Offences & Composition Sums
Core Principle: The First Schedule to the Road Traffic (Chauffeured Private Hire Car and Taxi Vocational Licence Demerit Points System) Rules 2017 lists every scheduled offence and the demerit points it carries. LTA separately publishes the composition sums. Learn the two together, because the money is rarely the part that ends a career - the points are.
Three sets of subsidiary rules supply most of the offence provisions, and the abbreviations recur throughout the tables below:
- PSVC Rules - Road Traffic (Public Service Vehicles) (Vocational Licences and Conduct of Drivers, Conductors, Trishaw Riders and Passengers) Rules
- PSV Rules - Road Traffic (Public Service Vehicles) Rules
- RTR - Road Traffic Rules
- P2P Act - Point-to-Point Passenger Transport Industry Act 2019
1. The 21-Point Offences - Any One of These Can End the Licence
Because a licence may be revoked once the points in the relevant period exceed 20, a single 21-point offence puts the PDVL in front of the Registrar for revocation.
| Offence | Provision | Composition | Points |
|---|---|---|---|
| Using a motor vehicle as a chauffeured PHC or taxi when there is no public service vehicle licence authorising that use | s.101(1) RTA | Court | 21 |
| Driving with an expired vocational licence | s.110(1) RTA | Court | 21 |
| Permitting a PHC or taxi to be driven by a driver whose vocational licence is suspended, or by an unlicensed driver | s.110(1) RTA | Court | 21 |
| Driving while the vocational licence is suspended | s.110(1) RTA | Court | 21 |
| Permitting any other person to use, or have in that person's possession, your vocational licence | Rule 17 PSVC | $500 | 21 |
| Installing audio recording equipment in or on a chauffeured PHC or taxi | Rule 14B(1) PSV | $500 | 21 |
| Using installed audio recording equipment to record sounds in the vehicle without permission | Rule 14B(4) PSV | $500 | 21 |
| Installing visual recording equipment in or on a chauffeured PHC or taxi | Rule 14C(1) PSV | $500 | 21 |
| Using installed visual recording equipment to make a visual recording in the vehicle without permission | Rule 14C(4) PSV | $500 | 21 |
| Disclosing a visual recording made of any person, thing or incident within the vehicle | Rule 14D(1) PSV | $500 | 21 |
| Driving a chauffeured PHC without displaying an authorised decalcomania | Rule 22C(1)(a) PSVC | $500 | 21 |
| Removing an authorised decalcomania without authority | Rule 38D PSV | $500 | 21 |
| Plying, or causing or permitting a chauffeured PHC to ply, for hire | Rule 40(1) PSV | $500 | 21 |
| Taking a ride-hail fare inconsistent with the ride-hail fare pricing policy (by $20 or more) | s.23(2A)(a) with s.23(4) P2P Act | $500 | 21 |
| Taking a ride-hail fare more than the fare last published by the ride-hail service licensee (by $20 or more) | s.23(2A)(b) with s.23(4) P2P Act | $500 | 21 |
| Failing to deposit property left in the vehicle in the manner required (for more than 7 days) | Rule 39(1) or (1A) PSVC | $500 | 21 |
2. The 12-Point Offences
| Offence | Provision | Composition | Points |
|---|---|---|---|
| Loitering for the purpose of soliciting for passengers | Rule 22A(1) PSVC | $500 | 12 |
| Soliciting for passengers | Rule 22A(1) PSVC | $500 | 12 |
| Driving with a decal that is not properly affixed | Rule 22C(1)(b) PSVC | $500 | 12 |
| Driving with a decal that is defaced, covered, obscured or altered | Rule 22C(1)(c) PSVC | $500 | 12 |
| Driving with a decal that is illegible | Rule 22C(1)(d) PSVC | $500 | 12 |
| Driving with a decal that is discoloured by fading or otherwise | Rule 22C(1)(e) PSVC | $500 | 12 |
| Affixing a decal on a chauffeured PHC other than the one it was issued for | Rule 38A(4) PSV | $500 | 12 |
| Displaying a PHC decal or label on a vehicle that is not a chauffeured PHC | Rule 34 RTR | $500 | 12 |
| Taking a ride-hail fare inconsistent with the pricing policy, or above the published fare, by less than $20 | s.23(2A) with s.23(4) P2P Act | - | 12 |
[!IMPORTANT] The $20 line is the fare rule you must remember. The same underlying conduct - charging a passenger more than the ride-hail fare allows - carries 12 points when the excess is under $20 and 21 points when it is $20 or more. There is no discretionary band in between.
3. The 6, 5 and 3-Point Offences
| Offence | Provision | Composition | Points |
|---|---|---|---|
| Refusing, without reasonable excuse, to convey a passenger | Rule 25 PSVC | $300 | 6 |
| Intentionally taking a booking for an on-demand passenger transport service from an unauthorised provider of ride-hail service | s.11(1) P2P Act | - | 6 |
| Using, wearing or possessing another person's vocational licence | Rule 20 PSVC | $200 | 5 |
| Causing hurt to a passenger through carelessness or wilful misbehaviour | Rule 21(1)(m) PSVC | $200 | 5 |
| Verbally insulting, intimidating or harassing a passenger in a sexual manner | Rule 22B(d) PSVC | $200 | 5 |
| Terminating a hiring, or requiring a passenger to leave, without reasonable excuse before the passenger reaches the destination | Rule 22B(b) PSVC | $200 | 5 |
| Obstructing or obscuring the front windscreen of the vehicle | Rule 6(1) PSV | - | 5 |
| Failing to deposit property left in the vehicle (more than 24 hours but less than 7 days) | Rule 39(1) or (1A) PSVC | - | 5 |
| Verbally insulting, intimidating or harassing a passenger other than in a sexual manner | Rule 22B(d) PSVC | - | 3 |
| Obstructing the Registrar or an authorised officer examining the vehicle | Rule 12(2) PSV | $100 | 3 |
| Failing to surrender the vocational licence on suspension or cancellation | Rule 15(1) PSVC | $100 | 3 |
| Failing, without reasonable cause, to proceed to the destination named by a passenger by the shortest and most direct route | Rule 23(1)(c) PSVC | $100 | 3 |
4. Composition-Only Offences (No Demerit Points)
These are the everyday, low-value offences. They do not carry demerit points, but they add up, and repeated notices attract LTA's attention.
| Offence | Provision | Composition Sum |
|---|---|---|
| Taking up or setting down passengers at an unauthorised place (within the CBD) | Rule 22D PSVC | $130 |
| Failing to display the identification document | Rule 16(3) PSVC | $50 |
| Failing to appear before an authorised officer | Rule 18 PSVC | $50 |
| Failing to behave in a civil and orderly manner | Rule 21(1)(a) PSVC | $50 |
| Failing to ensure the safety of a passenger in, entering or alighting from the vehicle | Rule 21(1)(b) PSVC | $50 |
| Failing to produce the vocational licence upon demand | Rule 21(1)(e) PSVC | $50 |
| Causing annoyance or importuning for the purpose of getting a passenger | Rule 21(1)(f) PSVC | $50 |
| Leaving the driver's seat without reasonable cause | Rule 22(1)(c) PSVC | $50 |
| Failing to stop close to the verge of the road | Rule 22(1)(d) PSVC | $50 |
| Stopping the vehicle within 9 metres of a bus stop | Rule 22(B)(a) PSVC | $50 |
| Parking or stopping at a taxi stop or taxi stand | Rule 24 RTR | $50 first offence, $80 subsequent |
[!NOTE] The list of scheduled offences and composition sums LTA publishes is non-exhaustive, and composition sums are set at the Authority's discretion and can change without notice. Treat the figures as the published position, not as a guaranteed price list.
5. Composition versus Court
When an authorised officer detects an offence, one of two paths follows.
| Path | What It Means | Effect on the Driver |
|---|---|---|
| Composition | LTA offers, entirely at its discretion, to compound the offence for a specified sum. | Paying settles the matter without a court conviction - but the Registrar must still award the demerit points, dated to the offence date. |
| Court prosecution | Used where no composition is offered, where the offence is serious, or where the composition sum is not paid. | A conviction, a court penalty, and the demerit points. Some offences - such as those under sections 101 and 110 of the Road Traffic Act - are dealt with in court rather than compounded. |
The common misconception is that paying "clears" the matter. It does not. The composition sum closes the financial and criminal exposure; the points still land, and they still count toward the 24-month relevant period.
6. Three Traps Worth Rehearsing
Trap 1 - "It was only a taxi stand." Pulling into a taxi stand is a $50 composition sum with no demerit points. Plying for hire - accepting a passenger who has not booked - is $500 and 21 demerit points. Drivers who blur the two in their minds tend to take the far more dangerous risk casually.
Trap 2 - "The camera is for my own protection." Installing or using audio or visual recording equipment inside a chauffeured PHC without permission carries 21 demerit points each, and disclosing a visual recording carries another 21. Good intentions are not a defence.
Trap 3 - "I'll hand the wallet in when I next pass a police post." Failing to deposit property left in the vehicle carries 5 points after 24 hours and 21 points after 7 days. The escalation is steep and the clock starts when the passenger leaves.
A PDVL driver accepts an upfront ride-hail booking of $22 and then demands an extra $10 in cash at the destination for the rain delay. How many demerit points does the fare offence carry?
A PDVL holder lets an unlicensed acquaintance use his vocational licence to drive. What does the First Schedule provide?
A private hire car driver pulls into a designated taxi stand outside an MRT station to collect an app-booked passenger. What is the published consequence?
A driver finds a passenger's wallet and keeps it in the car for nine days before handing it in. What does the VLPS provide?
What is the effect of paying a composition sum for a scheduled offence?