$400M in changes help ease wait times at DPS offices
Wait times at Texas driver’s license offices have dropped over the last two years, but they still average over an hour statewide despite a $400 million investment over the past decade.
The recent improvement comes mostly thanks to a switch to a scheduling system at the onset of the pandemic, although now Texans must schedule appointment weeks or sometimes months in advance.
Rather than operating delistyle where you take a number and wait your turn, those seeking driver’s licenses services are now required to go online and schedule an appointment. The switch was in the works prior to the advent of COVID-19, but it coincided with the reopening of driver’s license offices in May 2020.
Before then, the average wait time was about 90 minutes, said Ericka Miller, press secretary with the Department of Public Safety, which administers Texas driver’s licenses and IDs, and it’s now down to 71 minutes statewide.
Data for in-office wait times and appointment availability are posted publicly on a state website. Wait times seem to have improved the most at the 13 state mega centers. Although the state’s average wait time remained over an hour, the average wait to receive or renew a driver’s license at the mega centers was about 30 minutes.
The wait time to renew a driver’s license at Leon Valley Mega Center in San Antonio was about one hour, while at the Edinburg or Midland mega centers, it was less than 10 minutes. The two Houston-area mega centers each had roughly 20-minute wait times for renewals.
The improvement in wait times has come after the Legislature invested more than $400 million since 2012 to improve customer service. Driver’s license services are paperwork-intensive.
Wait times had gotten worse from 2009 to 2019, despite the large investment. The problem was attributed to there not being enough driver’s license offices for the population, and understaffing problems at the existing offices. For instance at the Gessner Mega Center in Houston in 2019, the average wait time was over an hour — or longer for those who had to wait outside if the office was too crowded, as the wait time tracking starts once a person is inside the building.
The problem grew severe enough that about three years ago, officials from DPS were hauled before a state Senate hearing and grilled by senators.
“Fix the damn thing,” Sen. John Whitmire, a Houston Democrat, said at that time. “We need you to respond like your job depends on it.”
A drawback to the new system is that most Texans must plan their visits to the driver’s license office far in advance, with an average of 17 days before appointments are available statewide.
Appointment availability varies widely by location — for instance, the Houston North Mega Center had just a two-day appointment availability window for new driver’s licenses, while those planning to go to Leon Valley Mega Center to receive an original driver’s license would need to book 69 days in advance.
Not everyone is happy with the new system.
“This place is by appointment only. It doesn’t really matter if you schedule one. You can’t check in until 30 minutes before appointment. And when your time comes up, don’t expect to be called. You’re basically in line like everyone else. The person at the entrance said it’s just the way it is,” one Texan wrote in a Yelp review for the Leon Valley Mega Center.
Some same-day or standby appointments are also available at each office, the DPS spokeswoman said, and those are first come, first serve.
Some driving on expired licenses or who recently moved to Texas and cannot wait weeks for an appointment have even slept outside driver’s license offices to ensure they’d get a walk-in spot, Fort Worth’s NBC station reported.
Those who arrive in the morning and schedule a same-day appointment will be given a time to return later in the day for their appointment, Miller said, so they won’t need to wait in line, while those who choose standby can wait in the office in case someone else with an appointment noshows or cancels.
“I made an appointment for 3 p.m. It’s 4 p.m. and I’m still sitting here. Not exactly sure why I took the time to schedule an appointment online DAYS ago and then took the time to check-in once I arrived, just to be placed in line with everyone that just walked in without an appointment,” another frustrated customer wrote on Yelp.