The Department of Vehicle Services (DVS) recently released a recommendations report addressing public concerns with its operations, and put forward a number of proposed solutions. One of their proposals included the elimination of 47 exam stations throughout the state, cutting available exam stations nearly in half.
In response to overwhelming dissatisfaction surrounding DVS’s testing backlog, in 2021 the Office of the Legislative Auditor (OLA) released findings regarding DVS’s Driver Examination Stations. The report stated multiple key points including “DVS has been unable to consistently satisfy a requirement in law that establishes a maximum wait time of 14 days for Class D road tests.” It also noted that “DVS lacks a systematic approach to forecasting demand for Class D road tests.”
DVS staff were present in the Senate Transportation committee last week to walk through their recommendations and address how they have implemented previous OLA recommendations. One portion of their report states, “DVS has been working to meet the 14-day appointment requirement, but demand for appointments continues to far outpace the resources available to conduct those exams. DVS has added staffing and continues to maintain 93 exam stations which means some examiners continue to spend significant portions of their day travelling to exam sites that are only open a few days a week or month. As is discussed later in this report, DVS supports consolidating to 46 exam stations to allow all stations to be open every business day with appointment availability throughout the day and provide better geographical balance to population throughout the state.”
“The solutions being put forward by DVS officials are troubling to say the least – they had previously asked for funding to expand testing locations, and now they’re proposing to eliminate nearly half of testing locations, many of which are in rural areas throughout the state,” said Senator Eric Pratt (R-Prior Lake). “People have been struggling to get behind-the-wheel testing appointments, and increasing the number of testing sites was supposed to alleviate that issue, yet now DVS is saying the opposite—it’s compounding the issue and they need to consolidate again. This is just going to make it harder for outstate Minnesotans trying to get these exam slots. This will just put more stress on locations in the metro area, and will do little to alleviate testing availability concerns families have been raising for years.”
Reasoning for the change is stated, “DVS has considered that this plan will require some Minnesota residents to drive further to take an exam than they might need to today. However, this is balanced against the fact that most individuals only need to pass the driving exam one time in their life.”
“I’m concerned with this change and how it will affect families throughout the state,” continued Pratt. “Ultimately, this solution serves to ease the burden on DVS, not the families and residents it should serve. Third party testing continues to be a viable option that DVS is unwilling to explore.