Governor highlights decreased wait times at Registry of Motor Vehicles

The Baker Administration claims it’s making progress in the mandatory trips to theMassachusetts Registry of Motor Vehicles—perhaps the least loved of bureaucratic chores.

Gov. Charlie Baker touted some of what he calls big improvements to the ways we renew our licenses and register our cars, promising a quicker, more efficient visit to the RMV than some might have come to expect.

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“Restoring a customer-service centered approach at the Registry of Motor Vehicles has brought about substantial progress toward decreasing wait times and giving people back precious hours of their working day,”Baker said in a statement Monday.

One key update to RMV policy, Baker said, is the use of “dual line queuing,” which splits customers up into those who came prepared (they use a “Ready to Go Line”) and those whose tasks might take more time.

The fast lane approach has been implemented at 11 locations, and the state plans to bring it to the rest of the RMV’s outposts in the first few months of 2016.

Wait times have dropped since last year, Baker said. In November 2015, 74 percent of customers finished their RMV tasks in fewer than 30 minutes — at the same time in 2014, that number was 59 percent, according to a news release.

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The RMV’s website has been redesigned to be easier to navigate (although, on Monday morning, it reported “experiencing technical difficulties with driver’s record requests“)and the agency has instituted new “performance standards” for employees in an effort to “improve the professionalism of those who work with our customers,” the release said.

The RMV now also has a permanent Registrar in Erin Deveney, who had been picked for the role on a one-year basis last March.

“With more work still to be done, I am proud to officially announce Erin’s permanent appointment as Registrar and consider her to be a true leader who has proven her commitment and ability to lead and move the Registry in the right direction,” Baker said in the statement.