HOUSTON – It's tough to spend anytime outside this time of year, and that can make a trip to the DPS, painful.
Especially if you're like the folks standing in line outside, under the scorching sun. Now, the Texas Department of Public Safety is worried about people's safety as they stand in those lines.
Officials say they get how frustrating and dangerous it is for folks, especially with it being so hot outside.
That’s exactly why they’re trying to get people to take advantage of their services that don’t require you to visit a DPS center at all.
In fact, all you really need is your phone.
“I’m hot, I’m bothered, but hey I have to do what I have to do to make it work,” Patrice Cooper, who stood in line for three hours outside of the Houston-Dacoma DPS Office, said.
Gina Disteldorf was also in line to replace her lost license.
“I thought I was going to be able to just come in, just grab the paper and leave,” she said. “I had no idea that I was going to have to wait.”
An average wait time is between two to four hours, in a line wrapping around an entire building.
Hoping to cut down on the lines, and keep people out of the dangerous heat, for the next two months, DPS is cutting down services at smaller, overcrowded locations.
Instead, they want you to do things like renewing your license or paying fees online on the phone.
“It is great to be able to do things online, but there’s a large portion of the community that doesn’t have access to that,” Sharice Gaston said.
DPS says if you need to show up in person, their mega centers will be available.
Starting now until the end of August, if you still go to one of the smaller locations for a transaction that could have been done online or by phone, the staff there will turn you away.
They want you to hop onto the DPS website, where you can do everything from scheduling a drive test early to even reserving a spot in line.
This temporary initiative at these six offices will run from Monday, July 9 through Friday, August 31, 2018. In the meantime, the alternate full-service locations are as follows:
- For the Houston-Dacoma office: Customers will be referred to the Houston North Mega Center (8418 Veterans Memorial Dr., Houston, TX 77088) or Houston Southeast Mega Center (10810 Galveston Rd., Houston, TX 77034);
- For the Conroe office: Customers will be referred to the Spring Mega Center (4740 Spring Cypress Rd., Ste. 100, Spring, TX 77379).
DPS offers the following tips to increase convenience for all customers across the state.
- Prior to coming to the office, call 1-866-DL-RENEW (1-866-357-3639) or check online to determine if your transaction — whether the renewal of a Texas DL or identification (ID) card or an address change — can actually be handled online, by phone or by mail. By doing so, eligible customers can skip the trip to a DL office and, in turn, decrease transaction times for customers required to go into an office.
- High-capacity DL Mega Centers are available in major metropolitan areas to better serve customers.
- Mega Centers and certain DL offices utilize a queuing system to provide customers with the convenient option of reserving a spot in line through the DPS website, by mobile phone or a landline before going to the office. For a list of the high-capacity Mega Centers, as well as the specific DL offices that offer the “Get in Line, Online” feature, visit the DPS website.
- In many offices, you can schedule a drive test online three months in advance. Customers are urged to plan ahead and not delay scheduling a drive appointment.
- Another underutilized option available to customers is to renew their DL or ID card early. You can renew up to two years in advance, and renewing early does not impact the expiration date. If an office visit is required, renewing early allows customers to choose a convenient time that best fits their schedule and avoids the busiest times at the DL office.
- Mondays and Fridays tend to be the busiest days, as well as after holidays. Overall, summer is the busiest time of the year. Try to plan your visit around these high-volume times, if possible.
- Before you go to the office, make sure you have all the proper documentation, including documents needed for residency requirements.
More information about all of DPS’ online services can be found here.