The Truck Training Schools Association of Ontario (TTSAO) would like to thank the Ministry of Transportation (MTO) and Serco (DriveTest) for all of their efforts in putting together a new pilot program for at-school road testing.
The MTO and Serco recently announced that they will be running a six month pilot project that will see DriveTest examiners deliver road tests at commercial driver training facilities across the Province. This pilot program will include examinations for all commercial licenses.
The plan and details have been discussed over the last year and will officially commence in August. The intent of the At-School Testing Program is to introduce and assess the viability of a new solution that will hopefully improve the capacity of commercial road testing services across the Province.
The objectives of the pilot program are to increase physical testing capacity in the province and address capacity constraints within the existing DriveTest Centers.
Driver examiners will conduct commercial class road tests (A,B,C,D,E,F) at four pre-determined school locations that meet approved site and route requirements for the 6-month pilot program. During this time the Ministry and DriveTest will gather data to assist with determining future expansion of the program.
Kim Richardson, TTSAO President says, “Our industry needs new and innovative ideas or programs that will assist in dealing with current and future capacity issues at DriveTest Centers across the Province. The TTSAO applauds the government and Serco’s efforts with this pilot project and we look forward to assisting wherever we can to ensure its continued success”.
Pre-determined specific criteria had to be met by the schools in order to be considered for the pilot program. These included:
- Suitable lot size for testing and backing,
- Participating schools will allow third party use (other use) of facilities for testing purposes,
- Testing areas met the conditions that allow for proper development of routes in accordance with MTO’s Policy Standards and Serco’s operational requirements regarding route length and complexity and testing, and
- Testing areas area were “deemed” safe for conducting on site testing procedures.
For more information on this press release, please contact:
Charlie Charalambous: Director of Communications and Public Relations, TTSAO – 647-241-1036 – charlie@ttsao.com
Kim Richardson: President, TTSAO – 905-512-0254 or by email at kim@ttsao.com