ARDEN HILLS, Minn. (FOX 9) - In the Twin Cities, the wait to take a road exam for a driver's license can take months. The Department of Public Safety-Driver and Vehicles Services is working to change that by adding weekend exam times in November and December and ending standing appointments with driving schools starting January 1.
“The practice was not serving us,” said DVS Director Emma Corrie.
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DVS ending standing appointments with driving schools for road test exams
In the Twin Cities, the wait to take a road exam for a driver's license can take months. The Department of Public Safety-Driver and Vehicles Services is working to change that by adding weekend exam times in November and December and ending standing appointments with driving schools starting January 1.
A consulting group reviewed three metro exam stations. It found standing appointments made up for as much as 20 percent of all appointments.
Standing appointments allowed driving schools to show up at a designated time to take their road exam. Some schools had this arrangement while others didn't. That's one reason why the state is ending the practice altogether
“It was done in good faith with intent to be efficient with taxpayer dollars. As that practice grew, it become clear to us our leadership that it was moving out of the realm of efficiency to being perceived as, perhaps, actually inequitable,” said Corrie.
Peter Hosmer, the owner of A+ Driving School in Whiter Bear Lake, says the end to standing appointments won't make a big difference for his business.
“We've always found that we've always been booked out as much as the DMV is anyway, so now instead of having an appointment that we would use on a regular basis, we're just going to have to call in or schedule an appointment online,” said Hosmer.
He says he'd rather it be fair for everyone trying to schedule a test.
“Obviously if there are driving schools out there that were abusing the standing appointment system - which there obviously were - then the system needs to go away,” said Hosmer. “If it can't be tweaked or fixed and can't be fair to everyone, then it needs to go away, and we're totally fine with that.”
Over the next two months, the state will be helping the impacted driving schools with the transition. As for weekend exam appointments, there are still about a thousand slots open in December.