Trainee bus drivers can soon learn to negotiate a slippery turn in wet weather or navigate through heavy traffic - all without being on the road, reported The Straits Times.

Instead, they can pick up these critical skills at a new centre which uses simulators to make training more effective and efficient. Trainees will be put through different virtual traffic and weather scenarios at the 6,330-square feet facility - the size of about one and a half basketball courts - which will be ready by the second quarter of next year.

The drivers' actual routes on the road can also be recreated in the 16 simulators at the facility called the Bus Career Development Centre. Eight of the centre's simulators will replicate the look and feel of a driver's cabin, complete with rear-view mirrors. The other eight can be used for more basic training such as route familiarisation.

The centre is jointly set up by SMRT, ST Electronics and the Employment and Employability Institute and will be housed in Jurong East. The equipment was developed using ST Electronics' simulation technology, with inputs from SMRT regarding driving behaviour and training.

SMRT Chief Executive Desmond Kuek estimates that the simulators will shorten the current six to nine-week training period by '20 to 30 percent', and might also halve the time required for on-the-road training. The target is to train 3,000 individuals in three years.