Ontario MELT providers face route, checklist requirements
Ontario career colleges that offer or plan to offer mandatory entry-level training (MELT) for Class A truck drivers must now meet new submission requirements, including detailed on-road training routes and completing a checklist.
In a Feb. 6 memo to registered career colleges, the Ministry of Colleges, Universities, Research Excellence and Security said MELT program submissions must now include a completed compliance checklist from the Ontario Ministry of Transportation (MTO), and a comprehensive depiction of pre-planned routes used for on-road training.
Industry groups said the new requirements raise concerns about practicality, duplication, and consistency.
Narinder Singh Jaswal, president of the Ontario Commercial Truck Training Association, said the checklist and route plan requirements were already submitted during initial career college approvals and requiring schools to resubmit the same documents adds cost without a clear benefit.
He also questioned the clarity of the route-planning requirement and said extending on-road hours unnecessarily could increase congestion and fatigue rather than improve safety outcomes.
He added that the memo specifies a 35-ft. trailer length measured from kingpin to axle, yet at DriveTest centers, several schools are currently using 20-ft. trailers without issue. “This creates inconsistency and raises fairness concerns,” he said.
Congestion, weather concerns
Philip Fletcher, president of the Truck Training Schools Association of Ontario, said the requirement for minute-by-minute on-road instruction is difficult to apply in urban environments where congestion, construction, collisions, and weather can cause unavoidable variability.
He said technology and designated applications could help track on-road training time accurately if regulators formally recognize those tools.
The changes build on earlier MTO bulletins clarifying lesson plan requirements under the Commercial Truck Driver Training Standard (Class A). While lesson plans were already required, the ministry said all MELT programs in the career college sector must now include detailed plans aligned with the standard, supported by a formal self-assessment checklist developed by MTO.
Career colleges currently offering MELT programs must submit updated programs by July 1. Submissions must include new evaluations of the program in its entirety by both an adult education specialist and a subject matter expert, with the expert confirming that the lesson plans and overall program meet Class A training standards.
Schools planning to offer MELT programs that have not yet received approval must also update and resubmit their programs to meet the new requirements before approval will be granted.
The ministry warned that career colleges that fail to submit the required program changes by the July 1 deadline, or whose submissions do not meet the training standard, risk having program approval revoked or being prohibited from enrolling new students.
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Like, TTCC, John. If it was scheduled, it happened. Complete BS
Reading all the reviews regarding TTCC truck training with maintenance issues, crazy scheduling that if it never happened TTCC says it did. Inaccurate hours being uploaded to the test centers. Who is calling the kettle black.
Your name comes up as President of TTCC or Cara. Who knows.-
We train about 2,000 drivers a year for various license classes. We use ELDs. We can provide irrefutable tamper proof evidence of delivery. These electronic logs are signed by the student and trainer. Auditors love these devices because they also record the routes taken. The information can be very quickly compared to schedules and trainer payroll records. I’ve been lobbying the MTO to make all schools adopt ELDs instead of the current paper logs but the so-called “safety associations” mentioned in the article don’t want the oversight. Many of their members are the ones who deliver 10 hours behind the wheel on automatic trucks for $3,500 – $4,000. BTW congratulations on your gym coach award. I know you’re not too familiar with our industry but I appreciate you giving me the opportunity to express our frustration with the barriers to common sense industry evolution.
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Thank you for the compliment. 30 + years in that industry. I do have a lot of knowledge about your industry as well due to association. Have a great day, John.
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John,
I do investigative research since retiring. I’ve been doing research on the trucking industry and systemic problems. Critical reviews are showing a serious problem with the MELT hours. Just a quick question. Are the instructors at TTCC certified?
Thank you .
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We have met with MTO senior officials recently and we applaud the Ontario government for committing to stronger enforcement for the bad actors in the commercial truck driving sector.
introducing ELD’s as an oversight process to ensure behind the wheel hours should be considered.
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There needs to be more investigation into driving schools. Even ones that have been around for sometime.
ELD’s do not work. I have researched this and there are serious flaws in this method. When a student is scheduled with an instructor for BTW, on the road training, and they are supposed to do a 3 hour training session that turns into only 1 hours, what happens? The student gets robbed of the 2 hours and in order for the instructor to be paid he needs to upload the full 3 hours. If students sign off on this they don’t realize they’ve got robbed. The instructors don’t realize they are robbing the students of MELT hours because head office tells them not to worry, , its the only way you can get paid for your 3 hours. This is consistent with many drive schools. I’ve talked to students that the ELD’s contradict their real time. Some were not even in the truck and the ELD says they were. Possibly the instructors should be paid a proper wage for their time and experience. This is causing a problem with the correct ELD uploads. I have researched this.
Great idea. It’s just the schools that already cheat the system that don’t want the oversight. Now they just need to make schools install ELDs for proof of delivery.