BBDC alone suspends 6,000 accounts in 2024 as long wait times, instructor shortages, and tech loopholes frustrate learners
Singapore’s driving schools are under mounting pressure from widespread bot abuse in practical lesson bookings, with thousands of accounts suspended in 2024 alone. Amid surging demand and a shortage of instructors, some students are paying up to S$70 per lesson just to secure a slot through automated tools.
Booking Bots Trigger Mass Suspensions
In a year plagued by lesson shortages and booking chaos, Singapore’s largest driving school, Bukit Batok Driving Centre (BBDC), suspended 6,000 accounts in 2024 for using bots or scripts to secure practical lessons. It follows a previous two-year suspension spree involving 6,500 more accounts.
ComfortDelGro Driving Centre (CDC) banned 214 accounts in the same period, while Singapore Safety Driving Centre (SSDC) also confirmed suspensions, though it did not disclose numbers.
Despite efforts, bots remain rampant. On platforms like Carousell and Telegram, students pay S$30–S$70 per lesson slot to booking agents or script providers, exacerbating inequity in access to limited slots.
Tech Arms Race: Bot Makers vs. Booking Systems
With no legal penalties currently in place for bot usage, some enterprising students have turned the issue into a side hustle. A 20-year-old student revealed he hired an overseas programmer to create a bot for personal use and began offering paid bookings to others, earning four-figure sums monthly.
CDC is now ramping up its anti-bot infrastructure with:
- Multi-factor authentication & Singpass login
- Longer IP-blocking durations
- Machine learning algorithms to detect abnormal usage
- Increased system audits
Industry experts recommend pairing these with captcha tests, browser fingerprinting, and commercial bot-detection tools like DataDome and TrustDecision.
The Bigger Problem: Not Enough Instructors
Bots aren’t the root cause, they’re a symptom of a deeper problem: too few instructors. All three schools cite recruitment struggles post-Covid, as private-hire driving and delivery jobs offer more flexibility and better pay.
- Instructor pay ranges between S$2,070 to S$4,500/month
- By comparison, SBS Transit bus captains earn up to S$4,500, with bonuses of up to S$25,000
To boost capacity, CDC added 20 new cars and 4 simulators, increasing lesson availability by 700 sessions per week. Instructor headcount rose by 10% between 2023 and 2024.
The Private Instructor Dilemma
The number of licensed private instructors has been shrinking, with only 268 left as of March 2024. That number will continue to drop as licences have not been issued since 1987.
Transport analyst Terence Fan suggested reopening private instructor licensing to widen access, but the Traffic Police (TP) instead opted to allow schools to hire qualified foreign instructors. None have been employed yet, due to incomplete qualifications.
Test Slot Bottlenecks Remain
Even after booking lessons, test availability is another hurdle.
- School learners: ~1 month wait
- Private learners: ~2 months wait
TP has increased Class 3 test slots and is working with schools to extend instructor hours and optimise circuit use. Results show slight improvements between December 2024 and February 2025, but not enough to meet demand.
Relief on the Horizon: New Driving School
To meet growing demand, the government plans to build a multi-storey driving school in Choa Chu Kang, replacing the current BBDC site earmarked for future housing. It will be Singapore’s second vertical driving centre, after SSDC in Woodlands.
While details are pending, the expansion is seen as critical for relieving pressure on the system.
Singapore’s driving lesson booking crisis is more than just a bot problem—it reflects a capacity crunch, systemic instructor shortages, and digital loopholes. Until new infrastructure and stricter bot countermeasures are in place, learners may continue battling both machines and long waitlists in their quest for a licence.
Sources: Straits Times (2025) , Mothership (2025)
Keywords: Bot Booking Driving Lessons, Driving School Suspension, BBDC Bot Ban, Instructor Shortage Singapore, Carousell Booking Scam, Practical Test Delays
