No lesson slots at driving school? Try Bukit Batok centre at weekend but be prepared to pay more
The new lesson slots on Saturday and Sunday evenings are often snapped up fast.
Singapore's Bukit Batok Driving Centre (BBDC) has opened additional weekend lesson slots for learner drivers during peak hours, but these slots come with a higher price tag. The new weekend lessons for Class 3 manual and 3A automatic cars are available on Saturdays and Sundays, with two time blocks – 5.10pm to 6.50pm and 7.20pm to 9pm. Learners can join a queue to secure the earliest available slots for an additional $45 surcharge, with each slot priced at $135.16, roughly 57 per cent more than existing peak-hour lessons.
Despite these fee increases, demand for driving lessons remains high across all three Singapore public driving centres. In the period from June 2024 to May 2025, approximately 44,520 learners took the practical Class 3 driving test, up from nearly 35,800 between July 2021 and June 2022, during the final stages of the Covid-19 pandemic.
To access the new weekend slots, learners must join a waitlist and call the BBDC hotline on a Friday morning to check for available lessons. If a slot is found, the learner can then book it and pay the surcharge. Currently, there are over 100 learners on the waitlist, with about 15 to 20 slots becoming available each weekend.
Some learners, such as Hakkeem Nasira, 23, a recent university graduate, are willing to pay the premium for weekend lessons if no earlier slots become available. However, SMU student Choo Ying Ern, 19, is hesitant to pay more, having reconsidered her decision to obtain her licence following the initial price increases of the year. Some learners resort to "camping" by repeatedly checking the booking portal, while others buy slots from sellers on messaging platforms like Discord, paying a premium price.
Private driving instructors are also benefiting from the increased demand, as the public driving centres' long waiting times make private lessons more appealing, despite their higher costs. One private instructor reported a substantial increase in requests for lessons in 2026, leading him to reduce his class intake to manage waiting times better. Some private instructors have even raised their prices to maintain competitiveness with the public centres and cover additional costs like car maintenance, COE, and fuel prices.
Written by urgent.news from Straits Times's reporting — not their text. Machine-written — it may contain errors, so check the original before relying on it.
