DPS Opens New Driver License Mega Center In Fort Worth
FORT WORTH (CBSDFW.COM) - The wait for a new driver's license is getting a bit shorter across North Texas. On Tuesday the Texas Department of Public Safety (DPS) opened a new driver license mega center in Fort Worth.
The DPS had faced criticism about the growing wait times at existing offices. In response, state lawmakers approved $63 million to open more than half a dozen new driver license mega centers.
"That money that went into it is for the technology, the building, the employees [and] all the stuff to put us actually into the twenty-second century, to have room for expansion and to move forward," explained Trooper Earl "Dub" Gillum.
The new facility has 22 customer service stations and is able to handle more than 700 transactions per day.
The new 24,000 square foot facility is meant to accommodate current and future North Texas residents. "We have hundreds of people moving here everyday," Gillum said. "Our population is going up and people aren't happy when they have to wait in line and spend the whole day at the drivers license office."
The new facility is hi-tech and offers a number of options for customers who are already at the office and for those who are planning to go. "You can actually come into the drivers license office and have you a place in line ready [for you]," Gillum said, referring to the new queuing system. "You can do it through your smartphone. You can do it through your online computer at home or your old-fashioned telephone… the landline is what we say. You can actually reserve your place in line."
The new Fort Worth mega center, which will be staffed by 44 full-time employees, apparently began alleviating overcrowding at the other driver's license offices even before the grand opening. Gillum said, "The mega center here in Fort Worth wasn't even "officially" open but they served several hundred people through here yesterday, for people just walking up. But today is their first official day to open."
The Fort Worth Driver License Mega Center is located at 8301 Brentwood Stair Road, south of Interstate-30, off of Eastchase Parkway. The office is open Monday through Thursday from 7:30 a.m. to 6 p.m., and Friday from 7:30 a.m. to 5 p.m.
