Amid crush of office traffic, new Saturday hours announced for DMV

The state Department of Motor Vehicles is expanding hours at some field offices to break huge logjams arising from new ID requirements and other changes.|

The Department of Motor Vehicles, a dreaded destination for drivers, lately has come to resemble some part of Dante’s Hell because of statewide operational changes that have compounded wait times and extended visits by many hours.

Chatter in line at the Santa Rosa field office this week evoked the wailing and gnashing teeth of the condemned, a reaction to delays one man described as “abusive” and another declared “should be illegal.” “It is so maddening that I don’t even want to talk about it,” said a third man, who declined to give his name as he stormed off to the back of the waiting room, already ?90 minutes into his stay with no end in sight. But help is on the way, as officials at DMV headquarters in Sacramento selectively expand hours and days at the state’s busiest offices to try to relieve widespread logjams credited largely to the rollout of new, more secure driver’s licenses.

Santa Rosa is among 60 local offices that, come Aug. 4, will be open every Saturday from 8 a.m. to ?5 p.m. for all transactions except behind-the-wheel driving tests.

The Corby Avenue location also is open this Saturday, from 8 a.m. to ?1 p.m., part of a transition that started with two partial Saturdays in June and two in July, leading up to six-day weeks next month.

“Basically, we looked at our offices that have some of the highest traffic, highest need,” state DMV spokesman Jaime Garza said.

The Santa Rosa location certainly appears to qualify.

The queue out the door of the Corby Avenue office began forming Monday around 6 a.m. By the time doors opened two hours later, about 100 people were waiting in a line that curved around the end of the building, according to several early arrivals.

Once inside the building, anyone without an appointment - the majority - could count on waiting in a slow-moving line that snaked around several corners for a chance to check in with an employee and be routed to other lines.

By mid-morning, many people interviewed had been waiting for two or three hours. Some were there for a second or third time because they had been unable to complete their business on earlier visits - because of the long wait or because they had insufficient documentation.

Joe Sheerin of Santa Rosa said he waited all day, two days in a row, earlier this summer and never heard his name called. That was five or six weeks ago. He finally made an appointment for this week.

“It’s abusive to have people wait and not tell them, ‘We can’t get you in today,’” said Sheerin, 55. “I’m here for something that should take 20 minutes.”

Several others said they tried to make appointments but would have had to wait for weeks to get one, allowing their driving privileges to lapse in the meantime.

One of those was Healdsburg resident Sandy Barnes, 79, who had two weeks to renew her license and had to take a written test. She already had been at the DMV for over two hours. Many others around her had been waiting longer.

“I did not intend to be here all day, but it looks like I might be,” she said.

The licensing agency’s reputation for long lines and inefficiencies have long made it an easy punchline. But conditions at field offices like Santa Rosa’s reached a crisis point beginning in January, when the DMV began to offer federally compliant driver’s licenses and identification cards known as Real IDs, which are being phased in around the nation to meet strict security standards imposed by the U.S. Department of Homeland Security.

California drivers will still be permitted to operate motor vehicles with a standard driver license. But beginning Oct. 1, 2020, only an optional Real ID or some other federally approved document, like a passport, will be accepted to board domestic flights or to access most federal facilities, including military bases.

Applicants must appear in person at a DMV field office and present original or certified proof of identity, such as a birth certificate, proof of California residency and current physical address, such as a utility bill, and proof of Social Security Number. Applicants also must have originals or certified copies of documents verifying name changes.

It takes extra time in the office to process the applications and often requires repeat visits for those who arrive without the proof of identity they need, Garza said.

In addition, the DMV has changed its queuing procedures in an attempt to more efficiently route people around the office for different purposes, he said. The agency has introduced new touch screens for use in-house to register for ID cards and driver’s licenses, Garza said.

But customers’ adjustment to the new procedures is taking time, he said.

Garza said the DMV has tried to assure consumers that there is no rush to get the high-security license, though those who are due to renew their driver’s licenses can save a second $35 fee by just getting the REAL ID now.

Garza also said there are steps consumers can take to lessen the pain, including planning ahead and booking appointments, checking the DMV website to make sure they can’t take care of business online or by regular mail, and ensuring they know exactly what documents they need to bring when they do have to appear in person so they don’t waste their time waiting only to have to repeat the exercise days later.

“Some people, I don’t think are informing themselves,” Garza said.

But he said the DMV did everything it could to alert the public to coming changes last winter and has provided significant resources online. It also has hired 330 additional employees, with 166 workers still to come onboard, to try to keep pace with public demand for services.

The DMV opened 60 of its 172 field offices on Saturdays from 8 a.m. to 1 p.m. in time for the January REAL ID launch, but so few people took advantage of the extra hours they canceled Saturdays in March, Garza said.

The agency is doing extra time with media outlets now to make sure people are aware of limited Saturday service.

Those waiting Monday expressed some skepticism it would be enough.

Sebastopol resident Ralph Harmon, back for a second time to complete paperwork for a new boat trailer he thought he had finished during his last hourslong visit, said he’s written to state Sen. Mike McGuire to describe the gravity of the situation.

“They can put a man on the moon,” Harmon, 68, said.

“Why can’t they make the DMV work?”

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