3 things to know about those scary wait times at the RMV
Your questions about REAL ID and when it will be safe to go to the RMV in person, answered.
The Registry of Motor Vehicles is entering a new era; Massachusetts drivers just might have to wait a bit for it to get underway.
After going dark this past weekend, the state agency reopened Monday with a revamped system, capable of issuing new federally mandated REAL IDs and designed to ease customer experience. However, the waiting times at RMV offices reportedly averaged one hour and 20 minutes, with some offices seeing peak waits of up to five hours. At the downtown Boston branch, the average wait was two hours and 23 minutes.
“It’s as long as we’ve ever seen it,” an RMV employee at the office told customers, according to The Boston Globe.
Tuesday was not much better, with waits at some branches reaching three to four hours. According to the state Department of Transportation, overall RMV wait times were shorter than Monday, but varied by location.
But as of Wednesday afternoon, waits were again exceeding several hours, with the estimated time at the Boston office close to four hours.
Here’s what you need to know about REAL ID — the central reason for the long lines this week — and when the waits are expected to subside.
1. What exactly is this new form of driver’s license?
REAL ID is a new federally standardized form of driver’s license, which the RMV began offering Monday. On the surface, it looks exactly the same as the standard state-issued license, but with a little, golden emblem on the top right corner.
Residents are not required to get a REAL ID. However, beginning in October 2020, standard licenses will no longer be acceptable as identification to board a flight or enter a federal building. From that point on, only REAL IDs or passports will serve as a valid form of identification for those means.
Even after October 2020, states will still offer non-REAL ID licenses to those who want them and don’t mind carrying their passport. According to the Department of Homeland Security, REAL IDs will not be required at border crossings, voting locations, or to apply for federal benefits.
The reason for the new form of license is a federal standard created in 2005 that was recommended following the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks.
2. Why has it created long waits at the RMV?
Stephanie Pollack, the state’s transportation secretary, told reporters that the RMV’s new computer system worked fine when offices reopened Monday. However, the culprit for the backup was the REAL ID licenses, she said.
Unlike standard licenses, REAL IDs cannot be processed online, which means anyone who wants to upgrade to the new standard when getting or renewing their license has to go to an RMV office in person.
Additionally, Pollack said it was taking employees longer to process the applications, which created longer wait times for everyone, no matter what their reason was for going to the RMV. As the Globe recently laid out, the three levels of documentation needed to obtain a REAL ID are substantial:
If you want a Real ID, you’ll need a Social Security card or another document that shows a Social Security number; a W-2 form from work is an acceptable stand-in. If you don’t have a Social Security number, you’ll need to provide a denial letter, a foreign passport, and more.
Then, to prove citizenship or lawful presence in the United States, you will need either a valid US passport, a certified copy of your birth certificate, naturalization papers, a green card, or other relevant immigration documents.
Lastly, you need two documents to prove residence in Massachusetts. These could be a utility bill, bank statement, firearms card, or a renewal letter from the RMV itself. Be careful, as many qualifying documents need to be recent— issued within 60 days of the renewal.
Even to obtain a standard license, residents must produce “a passport, birth certificate, or other document to prove citizenship or lawful presence, as well as one of the documents proving residency.” However, residents can apply for these licenses online.
In a statement, MassDOT said that 51 percent of people seeking a driver’s license, ID card, or learner’s permit Tuesday received a REAL ID-compliant credential.
“It’s just new for both employees and customers,” Pollack said Monday, according to the Globe. “The actual process when you have a person and a pile of documents is taking longer than it used to take when you renew a license.”
Pollack also said that following the statewide weekend RMV closure there was an increase in the number of people coming in for other reasons, like simply renewing their registration.
3. When will the wait times subside?
As MassLive reported Tuesday, Gov. Charlie Baker said his administration anticipated the increased wait times this week and made it “very clear” to the public what to expect.
“We encouraged folks to go online, we encouraged folks to go early,” he said.
According to MassDOT, registry offices saw a 56 percent increase in customers arriving with license applications already filled out Tuesday compared to Monday.
Decreasing RMV wait times was one of the early focuses of Baker’s administration. Within a year of taking office, the Republican governor celebrated increasing the number of residents served in less than 30 minutes from 59 percent in November 2014 to 74 percent by December 2015. Pollack said Monday that 30 minutes or less remains the department’s target.
While many more suburban RMV locations had estimated wait times under an hour Wednesday afternoon, there were still daunting examples.
In Boston, the estimated wait time was three hours and 45 minutes for licensing and one hour and 15 minutes for a registration as of about 2:45 p.m., according to the registry’s website. In Lawrence, the estimated licensing and registration waits reached one hour and 45 and two hours and 30 minutes, respectively. In Braintree: two hours for licensing and one hour and 15 minutes for registration.
MassDOT declined to give a specific estimate Wednesday of when the wait times would return to normal, but spokeswoman Judith Riley said they should “decrease over time” as RMV staff become more efficient and comfortable with the new technology and as customers become more aware of the documents they need to get or renew a license.
Baker said Tuesday that he believed the situation will work itself out “over the course of the next several weeks.”
“The lines should go down, the waiting times should go down and things should go back to being what we would call the ‘new normal,’ which is everybody being able to get in and out in less than an hour,” he said.
