Only around a third of the 8,487 tuk-tuk drivers who registered for free road traffic law training passed their driving test and received licences, the Phnom Penh Municipal Department of Public Works and Transportation said.
The department said that, as of Tuesday, 8,487 of the capital’s tuk-tuk drivers had registered on 15 free road traffic law training courses, with only 2,793 passing their driving test.
Yuth Sothea, the director of Information Technology and Public Relations at the Ministry of Public Works and Transportation, could not be reached for comment on Wednesday.
The Department of Public Works and Transportation had said the free training sessions taking place every Saturday would end on July 27.
However, the director-general of the ministry’s General Department of Land Transport has said there are plans to delay the deadline for the free training until the middle of August to allow tuk-tuk drivers extra time to register and obtain a driving permit.
Chhoun Voun told The Post last month that putting back the deadline had been proposed after many tuk-tuk drivers had complained of difficulties in passing the driving test because they could not read or write.
Hen Then, a PassApp tuk-tuk driver, told The Post that he had not enrolled in the course because he had seen others train for two weeks and still not pass the test.
He said he would wait and “purchase” a driving licence instead.
“Some of my tuk-tuk driver counterparts registered for the training, but it is not very useful. I wanted to enrol, but the process takes a long time. And even if I were to study every Saturday, I cannot be sure that I would pass the test."
“I saw some people go for three Saturdays, but they still did not pass the exam. It is hard for us who make a living on a day-to-day basis,” he said.
He said of some 200 tuk-tuk drivers he had spoken to, only around 20 said they would register for training.
He urged the authorities to let drivers train for two or three days and then be given a driving licence because they needed to earn money to feed their families.
He earned only between $10-15 per day, he said.
