If you were pleasantly surprised by a shorter wait time than expected at the driver's license office this summer, you're not alone. The Department of Motor Vehicles instituted a series of policy changes to make it happen.
Long lines at DMV offices frustrated customers and eventually made headlines last summer. That was especially so during August, the agency's busiest month, where people waited more than an hour and a half on average, and roughly a third waited two hours or more. This year, normal wait times were cut in half with less than ten percent extending past two hours.
How? According to The News & Observer, one way involved accountability. Driver's license examiners at the agency's 29 busiest offices began receiving a scorecard of their performance indicating the number of transactions they completed with the goal of improving efficiency.
Another time drag was the 2017 introduction of the REAL ID — a new form of North Carolina driver's license that meets federal I.D. requirements and can only be picked up at DMV offices in person. This led to extra lines snaking out the door in many offices. This year the agency began encouraging people to make appointments to acquire them and steering people to less-busy offices when possible.
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