The waiting times at the CBR in Amsterdam for driving for a car license are still considerable. Where an application for the corona pandemic took an average of five to seven weeks, it is now almost twenty weeks.
A difficult situation for driving school owners and their students. Planning the departure now requires much more time management than it did before. “For students who want to drive for the first time, the next option is August 15 and for the sacks it is somewhere in the middle of July,” says driving instructor Emre Ekinci.
Bet CBR
Mustapha Ait Boubker of Driving School 5-Skills indicates that he does see the will at the CBR to improve the current situation: “Normally it is 8 exams a day and that has been expanded. So they are doing their best, because Saturdays are also are open.” As a result, the CBR hopes that the waiting time will be shortened, but the main focus is on hiring new examiners.
“I have three new ones for Amsterdam”, says Mark de Jong, exam manager CBR Amsterdam. “More people need to be added, but it is a tight labor market. So it is difficult to find people and we do not want to compromise on our selection process, because it is about road safety.”
The CBR expects that they will need another year to ensure that waiting times are back to pre-coronavirus levels. In the meantime, the students still have to be patient to find a date for their driving exam. The driving schools often think along, but there are also reports that attempts are being made to take advantage of the waiting times.
Taking advantage
Driving schools can allow students to take lessons more often and thus earn more, but both Emre and Mustapha deny participating in this. “Definitely there will be driving schools that try to take advantage,” Emre knows. “We’re not one of them. What we do try is to make it clear to the student that it’s taking longer than usual, so this walk can go at its fastest in the way we recommend.”
Mustapha also acknowledges that it happens, but believes that it will help his company more if he supervises the student and does his best to find a date as soon as he is ready. “If someone is going fast in their learning path and at some point they are at that level of independence, then you should stop holding a student and say ‘I can’t book an exam,'” he explains. “Then it is my duty to see if something is released.”