By Yeo Ghim Lay

SBS Transit and SMRT have received a boost in their efforts to hire local bus drivers, with the Government set to pay up to $3.2 million to fund the training of new hires over the next two years.

Ninety per cent of the operators' training costs for new drivers who are Singaporeans or permanent residents will be subsidised, giving them more incentive to hire locals.

The $3.2 million, set aside by the Workforce Development Agency and the Employment and Employability Institute (e2i), is expected to help recruit about 560 local drivers.

This was announced yesterday at a job fair for bus drivers organised jointly by the National Transport Workers' Union (NTWU), e2i and the two transport operators.

The funding is a result of the operators' training programmes being brought under the $600 million Skills Programme for Upgrading and Resilience or Spur.

The scheme aims to cut employers' costs and help workers stay employable by subsidising their training.

Spur now covers more than 800 courses.

New bus drivers undergo a month's training before they take to the road.

Besides receiving subsidies, the operators will also ramp up recruitment efforts in the next six months by holding job fairs with NTWU and e2i.

SBS Transit executive director Gan Juay Kiat hoped more Singaporeans will see that driving a bus is a rewarding job.

Both operators have said it is hard to hire Singaporeans for the job, which has long and irregular hours.

The two companies have 280 vacancies for drivers.

Yesterday's event was suggested last year by NTWU executive secretary and Member of Parliament Seng Han Thong, who is now recuperating from an attack by a resident who set him on fire.

Almost 80 applicants, shortlisted earlier, showed up at the fair at e2i, where they met the operators for interviews.

One of them was Madam Juwina Amir, 44. The mother of three now works part-time as a school bus attendant with her husband, who ferries school children.

'I've always enjoyed driving so I decided to challenge myself by signing up to be a bus driver,' she said.

Mr Stephen Tan, 45, a former SBS Transit bus driver, is giving the job a second shot.

He left eight years ago to take up an assistant engineer job, but was retrenched last month.

'The manufacturing sector is not doing very well now, so I decided to try for this instead. I hope to do well and move up within the company,' said Mr Tan.

This article was first published in The Straits Times.