Las Vegas Sun

March 29, 2024

DMV ramping up workforce to reduce wait times

Drivers at DMV

Steve Marcus

People wait in line at the Department of Motor Vehicles office in Henderson on Monday, August 2, 2010.

CARSON CITY — The state Department of Motor Vehicles has hired nearly 100 employees to help reduce sometimes hours-long waits at its offices in Las Vegas and Reno.

The new workers are being trained and will be on the job in September, department Director Troy Dillard said today.

Of the 93 new hires, 70 will be assigned to the DMV’s four offices in the Las Vegas area and the rest will be in Washoe County.

A total of 687 people are employed at 18 offices statewide.

Earlier this year, Dillard said the DMV was in “crisis management mode” in dealing with wait times of up to five hours at some offices. The offices can serve 100 customers an hour, but sometimes there are as many as 500 people waiting to be helped, he said.

As of about 10 a.m. today, there were between 196 and 341 people waiting in line at the DMV’s four Las Vegas Valley offices. There were 265 people waiting in Reno.

The agency has watched wait times soar from an average of 42 minutes in 2013 to an average of nearly two hours in the first half of 2015.

Dillard said the crunch comes as the economy recovers and more people buy and register vehicles. A new driver authorization card program that allows immigrants to get a license has also boosted customer counts.

The Legislature funded 75 new positions, and 18 were previously unfilled.

The DMV has also enhanced its automated services, allowing people check in and then be notified by text, email or phone about 20 minutes before their number is called.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

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