NJ Offers Plan To Address Very Long MVC Lines Amid Coronavirus

NEW JERSEY – You've heard about it, or you know about it firsthand: Long lines continue to plague New Jersey's Motor Vehicle Commission agencies even though they were reopened more than a month ago.

The MVC says it's developed a plan to address the long lines while also dealing with a tremendously long backlog of hundreds of thousands of transactions since in-person services resumed on July 7th (see steps below).

And there are another hundreds of thousands of backlogged transactions from the four-month closure period that the MVC still needs to address.

"Our staff has done a terrific job of cutting through the backlog that awaited us," MVC spokesman William Connolly said.

What the MVC has done so far, however, hasn't been enough for a number of lawmakers and customers who are perplexed that it's still takes a long time to renew their driver licenses.

Some have taken to social media to express their frustration and post pictures that show people lining up with no masks.

State Sen. Anthony M. Bucco, R-Morris, said he once asked for the MVC’s plan to operate smoothly once it reopened and claims the agency never responded.

“Despite what the governor has suggested, this isn’t the fault of New Jerseyans who have waited patiently for four months to obtain services that the MVC does not offer online," he said.

Connolly spoke to Patch and addressed the long lines, why they're happening and what the agency plans to do about it.

• New Jersey licenses over 6.5 million drivers. The MVC was closed for almost four months during the COVID-19 pandemic and public health emergency, so there remains a huge backlog and a lot of pent-up demand for motor vehicle services.
• At the same time, the number of customers who can be inside the agencies at any one time has also been substantially reduced because of social distancing and public health requirements.
• As of Monday, the MVC had completed over 750,000 transactions in the five-and-a-half weeks since reopening on July 7, reducing the agency backlog from a nearly four-month closure by more than half.
• The MVC, as a result, has made most transactions available online, reducing the need for customers to visit agencies.
• The MVC has streamlined services and expanded the types of payments accepted online to make those transactions more convenient, encouraging everyone to check NJMVC.gov to see if they can "Skip the Trip."
• Licenses, registrations, temporary tags, and inspection stickers were all extended to at least September 30. And those documents expiring from June through August have been extended to Dec. 31.
• Agencies were designated either licensing centers or vehicle centers, and processes were streamlined inside.
• Licensing Centers offer license and ID transactions only. Vehicle centers offer registration, title, and license plate transactions only. See below to find a licensing center or vehicle center.
• A new SMS notification system was set up so that customers can check in, then leave until they are notified by text, which is usually 15 minutes before their service.
• An additional ticketing system has been implemented to notify customers of the MVC's capacity for the day.
• In most of those cases, customers are issued tickets by around 8:45 a.m. Customers who don’t get tickets are advised to leave and come back another day; customers issued tickets are in most cases allowed to leave and return closer to the time they will be served. "However, we have seen the majority of customers insist on waiting even when they don’t have to," Connolly said.
• The MVC urges customers to check NJMVC.gov to see if your expiration date was extended.
• Since reopening, the MVC has cleared its road test backlog and restarted driver knowledge testing by appointment. The MVC has also added supplemental locations for CDL driver knowledge testing.
• The MVC has made fillable forms available on its website to allow customers to fill out their paperwork prior to coming to a Licensing or Vehicle Center.

Even with these steps, customers will continue to see lines at the agencies after 9 a.m, Connolly said. That will largely remain, he said, due to the fact that the MVC has dramatically reduced the number of people allowed inside.

In most cases, once you have your time-stamped ticket, you can leave and return later at the direction of agency staff.

At this point, depending on the day, the MVC has 15-20 of its 39 centers reaching capacity at 11 a.m. or later. That means, at some centers, you can arrive in the late morning, get a ticket, leave until you receive a text message, return and be served that same day, Connolly said..

"We are making continual progress serving the drivers of New Jersey, reducing the backlog and lines, while meeting the many challenges of a COVID-19 world," he said.

Licensing centers

• Bakers Basin
• Bayonne
• Camden
• Cardiff
• Delanco
• Eatontown
• Edison
• Flemington
• Freehold
• Lodi
• Newark
• North Bergen
• Oakland
• Paterson
• Rahway
• Rio Grande
• Salem
• South Plainfield
• Toms River
• Vineland
• Wayne
• West Deptford

Vehicle centers

• Cherry Hill
• East Orange
• Hazlet
• Jersey City
• Lakewood
• Manahawkin
• Medford
• Newton
• Runnemede
• Somerville
• South Brunswick
• Springfield
• Trenton
• Turnersville
• Wallington
• Washington