Long lines continue as DMV fires up new system

Jace Radke and Susan Snyder

Tuesday, Sept. 21, 1999 | 11:42 a.m.

Hours

Extended hours resume this week at the DMV offices at 8250 W. Flamingo Road and 2701 E. Sahara Ave., which were closing at 5 p.m. last week. Those offices will be open 7 a.m. to 6 p.m. this week.

Patience remains in short supply at Nevada Department of Motor Vehicles offices as the bugs in the new Genesis computer system are worked out.

At the West Flamingo DMV office on Monday afternoon messages of frustration began to appear on the bottom of DMV signs featuring pictures of cartoon puppies and turtles asking customers for patience.

Responses ranging from "this stinks" to "eat me" had been scrawled in ink on the signs by Las Vegas drivers forced to wait hours in line.

"It's about the same as it was last week. We still have ridiculously long lines," Kevin Malone, a Department of Motor Vehicles spokesman in Clark County, said.

There are two reasons for the mess. One is the computer system. The new program still has plenty of bugs. Computer workers identify the ones that create the biggest customer service problems, correct them, and then update the computer system twice a week after hours, Malone said.

The second problem is that all those folks who received 10-day extension permits and the ones who received vouchers for places at the front of the line from the day before are coming back in droves this week, Malone said.

"So now we've got a backlog," he said. "The computer system is running better, but we have a backlog.

"We just hope the public remains patient," he said.

Celina Blount was patient for six hours on Monday as she waited with her grandson to pick up new registration tags for her car.

"I was hoping to be done with this by 5 (p.m.) because my daughter's car is in the shop, and I was supposed to pick her up from work," Blount said. "I know it's not the workers' fault but I just wish there was something to make this faster for people."

Blount, who turns 74 today, finally made it to the front of the line and got her new tags shortly after 5 p.m.

"Thank God I made it," Blount said after getting her tags. "I was determined to get them today, because there was no way I was going to spend my birthday down here."

Another group of people waiting in line at the Flamingo DMV, 8250 W. Flamingo Road, passed the time by applauding every time customers got what they needed and were able to head home.

"We've been here since noon, so we thought we'd do something constructive with our time," Aldona Manka said as she waited in line at 4 p.m. "We started clapping for people after they got finished with their business, but a DMV supervisor got mad at us and said we were distracting the workers.

"I was thinking about ordering 30 pizzas for the people in line, but that probably would have made them really angry."

Despite the reprimand Manka and several others in line continued to applaud those who made it through the lines.

The state's 500 customer service workers who help people register their cars and obtain driver's licenses are learning to deal with some of the stress a little better this week, Malone said.

But it was, after all, only Monday.

"The frustration level was really building last week. This week seems OK so far. It's like, 'Here we go again, and there's not much we can do about it,' " he said. "Even in the small towns in the podunk areas the wait lines are long too."

Mesquite's office handles only commercial licenses and registration renewals. But people were lined up "out the door" Monday afternoon, according to a state worker who declined to give her name.

"We all run off of the same computer system -- the whole state," the worker said. "We usually never have a line, but we have a four- or five-hour wait."

Even those looking for renewals down in Laughlin waited an hour, which is a long time in an office where there typically is no line, the worker said.

Tonopah's DMV office had no line Monday. But that's because it had no computer service and hasn't had any since the new system came on line Sept. 13.

"On Sept. 13, our computers wouldn't come up. And they're still not up," said Sadie Drown, who works in the Tonopah office. "The phone's ringing off the hook because people are wondering if the computers are up yet."

Nope. They're not. So residents must make the hourlong drives to Winnemucca or Elko for licenses and registrations.

"I talked to Elko, and they have people lining up at 6:30 in the morning," Drown said.

State officials had hoped the computer system would be running smoothly by the end of the month, but Malone said it likely will be "several more weeks" before things are back to normal.

People who can put off visiting the offices another week should wait, Malone said.

Cindy Jackson and her 6-year-old daughter, Alyx, decided to wait a little longer before getting their registration taken care of when they saw the lines at the Flamingo DMV.

"First we went to the DMV on Carey (Avenue) and it was packed so we came here and it's just as bad," Jackson said. "I guess we'll just have to come when it opens, but that will mean no Cartoon Network in the morning before school for Alyx."

Joe Unger, a 16-year-old trying to get a Nevada ID card, wasn't going to give up and go home no matter what.

"I was here last week and they closed before I could get to the front of the line," Unger said as he stood in line at the Flamingo DMV just after 3 p.m. Monday. "I've seen the stories on the news about how crowded it is but I have no choice.

"I'm going to get to the front of the line and get this taken care of today no matter what it takes. I'm not even thinking about not making it."