LTO puts cap on driving school fees

Metro Manila (CNN Philippines, March 22) — The Land Transportation Office (LTO) has issued a price ceiling on driving school fees, which will be effective starting April 15.

During a briefing on Wednesday, LTO chief Jay Art Tugade announced the move to put a maximum prescribed fee on complete courses for motorcycle and light vehicle driving.

Based on the agency's omnibus guidelines, driving institutions should implement the following maximum fees:

For motorcycle driving:

Theoretical driving course (TDC) ₱1,000

Practical driving course (PDC) ₱2,500

For light vehicle driving:

TDC ₱1,000

PDC ₱4,000

Tugade said the decision to impose a price cap was reached following complaints against expensive driving school fees.

He stressed that the LTO will "strictly impose" the maximum fees, as he warned accredited driving schools of facing sanctions once they fail to follow the set guidelines.

"Sana 'yung mga driving school magpababaan ng presyo at magpagandahan ng serbisyo," he said.

[Translation: I hope the driving schools would lower the prices and improve their services.]

Tugade, in a statement, also assured that driving schools would still be profitable despite the new guidelines.

"The rates were computed to make sure that driving institutions still get a fair return of investments and at the same time make it affordable to the public," he said.

The LTO said that aside from the prescribed maximum rates, accredited driving institutions will be required to hold the mandatory 15-hour TDCs in two days, with the first seven hours on the first day and the remaining eight hours on the second day.

Meanwhile, the practical driving instructions shall not be less than eight hours per driver's license code applied for.

"PDC for light and heavy vehicles shall be conducted for at least two days while 8-hour PDC for motorcycles may be conducted in one day, provided that the student-driver has proven to have already acquired the knowledge based on the assessment by a practical driving instructor," according to the memorandum circular.

Driving institutions must also enroll the details of their clients to the LTO System using the Land Transportation Management System Client ID to determine the starting date of the TDC amid the issue of "non-appearance" by some applicants.