BANDAR SERI BEGAWAN

THE Online Land Transport Department (JPD) application that tracks accumulated demerit points and driving offences has been met with positive responses from the public.

The mobile device application – launched earlier this year in February by the JPD – was introduced to make the department more efficient in terms of its services to the public.

In addition to the application, road users were also provided a notification through SMS service to remind them to renew their vehicle and drivers’ licences a month before its expiration date.

Prior to the launch of the application, drivers reportedly raised concerns of not knowing if they had been given demerit points upon receiving a fine.

At the time, JPD Director Dr Hj Supry Hj Ladi explained that road users would have to wait a certain amount of time as the notification system was still in progress.

To date, the Online JPD application has seen over 1000 downloads on the Google Playstore for Android users.

No data is available for the number of downloads at the Apple App Store.

Those interviewed by The Brunei Times expressed their satisfaction with the application and notification system that has been live for almost two months.

“It is definitely an improvement from before. Nowadays time is precious and having (such) information at our fingertips is very convenient,” said a 43-year old civil servant who wished to be known as Salmah.

She said that the mobile application gives her a peace of mind.

“Knowing if I have done anything wrong will keep me on my toes and the SMS notification is on time,” said the civil servant.

Sharing the same views was retiree Hj Yussof who makes use of the application on his son’s phone.

“I use my son’s application to check my demerit points. It is good that more than one road user can check their status and personal details on one phone. My son can keep track for the both of us,” said the retiree.

The application is also expected to allow users to renew their driving and vehicle licences.

This service, however, is still unavailable to the public.

“Now I think we have to go through the e-Darussalam portal to renew or go straight to the department’s branches or post office. I look forward to (doing it on the phone) but I am already quite happy with the application. If the updates do happen soon then it is truly a valuable application to own,” said businessman Hj Tuah Rahman.

The Brunei Times