2.1 TDVL Course Structure, Duration and Appointed Providers

2.1 TDVL Course Structure, Duration and Appointed Providers

Quick Answer: Once your Approval to Attend Course (ATC) letter, medical assessment and chest X-ray are cleared, you must complete TDVL training with an LTA-appointed training provider before sitting the three-paper assessment. LTA's own comparison materials list a 16-hour classroom course at S$250 for the direct TDVL path. Appointed providers such as ComfortDelGro Taxi and NTUC LearningHub publish their own fee breakdowns, which will not look identical to LTA's baseline table — you need to know how to reconcile the two rather than treat one as wrong.

Who Can Train You: LTA-Appointed Providers

The Land Transport Authority does not run TDVL classrooms itself. Instead, it appoints training providers to deliver the mandatory curriculum, and appoints separate test providers to run the assessment papers. For TDVL, the two names candidates encounter most often are:

• ComfortDelGro Taxi (Training Hub) — one of Singapore's largest taxi operators, running its own in-house TDVL classes.
• NTUC LearningHub, through its Land Transport Institute — a separate appointed provider offering the same 16-hour direct TDVL curriculum in a physical classroom format.

Both providers train toward the same LTA curriculum and the same Republic Polytechnic assessment papers — they are alternate delivery channels for identical regulatory content, not competing versions of the test. Choosing between them is a scheduling and cost decision, not a "which one is easier" decision, because the assessment itself is set by LTA and delivered by Republic Polytechnic regardless of which provider trained you.

LTA's Baseline Comparison Table

When LTA compares application paths for prospective TDVL holders, its published comparison table lists the direct TDVL course as 16 classroom hours priced at S$250. On top of the course, the same table lists TDVL test costs as S$10 registration plus S$15 for the 3 papers, bringing the course-and-test subtotal to S$299.75 including GST. Medical assessment and chest X-ray costs sit outside this subtotal and are billed separately.

Treat this table as LTA's regulator-level baseline: it is designed to let applicants compare the direct TDVL route against the PDVL-to-TDVL conversion route (discussed below) on a like-for-like basis, not to describe every dollar you will pay a specific training provider.

ComfortDelGro's Own Course Breakdown

ComfortDelGro's TDVL course FAQ publishes a more granular, provider-specific breakdown that candidates who train with ComfortDelGro will actually be billed:

Notice that ComfortDelGro's course-plus-material total (S$272.50 + S$54.00 = S$326.50) is higher than the S$250 figure in LTA's comparison table — until you apply the SkillsFuture Credit offset of up to S$243, which most adult Singapore Citizens can draw on to bring their real out-of-pocket cost down substantially.

Reconciling the Two Figures

Do not treat LTA's S$250 course figure and ComfortDelGro's S$272.50 + S$54.00 figures as contradictory or as one source being "wrong." They answer slightly different questions:

1. LTA's comparison table is a regulator-published planning benchmark used to compare the direct-TDVL path against the shorter PDVL-to-TDVL conversion path.
2. ComfortDelGro's FAQ is a single appointed provider's actual billing breakdown, itemising course fee, material fee and available subsidies for its own course intake.

The practical lesson for a candidate: always confirm the current fee directly with the specific provider you plan to train with, and separately confirm the per-paper assessment fee with Republic Polytechnic (or whichever LTA-appointed test provider you are assigned), because course fees and assessment fees are billed by different organisations and are not bundled into one invoice.

PDVL-to-TDVL Conversion Uses a Shorter Course

Not every TDVL candidate takes the full 16-hour direct course. A driver who already holds a Private Hire Car Driver's Vocational Licence (PDVL) and wants to add taxi authority can use the PDVL-to-TDVL conversion path, which uses a shorter 8-hour course rather than the full 16 hours, reflecting the training already covered under the PDVL curriculum. The conversion path also uses a lighter assessment load — covered in the next section — since two of the three TDVL topics are already validated through the PDVL programme.

What This Means for Your Study Plan

Regardless of which provider delivers your training, budget your prep time and money around three fixed facts that do not vary by provider: the 16-hour direct course (or shorter for conversion), the LTA-appointed provider requirement (you cannot use an unapproved trainer), and the fact that the assessment itself is separate from the course and billed and delivered independently, currently through Republic Polytechnic. Confirm current pricing directly with your chosen provider before enrolling, since fee tables can be revised.