Mass. Registry drifting back to slow lane

Funding blamed as delays rise

Pat Greenhouse/Globe StaffMotorists waited Thursday, many for more than an hour, to conduct business at the Registry of Motor Vehicles in Chinatown. (Pat Greenhouse/Globe Staff)

The warm summer sun seemed distant this week beneath the fluorescent lights of the Registry of Motor Vehicles' Chinatown branch. Tired motorists were sprawled, asleep on wooden benches, an impatient child puttered around on a scooter, and others among the huddled masses clutched cellphones to cancel appointments and complain to their friends about the long lines.

After years of improvement, the wait times at the Registry are once again getting longer, according to internal agency figures. Just before noon Thursday, about 150 people were crowded on the second floor of the Chinatown branch, killing time for at least an hour, on average. Managers came out to apologize and urged customers to fill out their paperwork properly to avoid lengthening the line.

"I'm three people away, do I leave?" asked Judith Kalaora, 24, an actress in her second hour of waiting for a motorcycle exam. "I'm meeting with a director and I had to cancel, and that might be a part down the drain."

Service has not fallen to the depths of the late 1990s, when waits routinely soared above an hour or two at many branches, but that is small comfort to the increasing volume of people waiting to get an identification card, trade in a license plate, or renew a license. Several branches had waits of more than 60 minutes at various times this week, including a 90-minute wait in Taunton yesterday afternoon, according to the Registry's website.

In 2002, 60 percent of Registry customers got in and out of the office within 10 minutes. Last year, 43 percent finished their business in that time. Last month, the figure was down to 35 percent.

Rachel Kaprielian, who became the registrar on June 1, said the Chinatown branch is a particularly busy office - especially at the end of the month, as students return to town - but acknowledged the numbers have begun heading in the wrong direction.

"It's not OK if you're waiting an hour somewhere, period," she said.

Kaprielian attributed the long waits to declining state funding and resulting staff cuts, as well as added responsibilities.

Last year's $54.3 million budget was the smallest this decade, and $11.6 million less than the agency received in 2002, when public attention was focused on reforming the Registry. The number of employees in customer service jobs shrank from 869 in January 2002 to 687 last year, according to the agency. Despite the reduced staff, the state transferred responsibility for road tests and school bus inspections to the Registry last year.

In the 1990s, the Registry was widely loathed - known for snaking lines and surly service - before it was revamped with new management and an infusion of cash and equipment at the beginning of this decade.

But between 2005 and 2007, the average wait time increased from less than 10 minutes to more than 15 minutes. Last month, the average crept above 18 minutes.

That average doesn't tell the whole story.

At busy branches like Watertown, Chinatown, Beverly, Worcester, Roslindale, Lowell, Braintree, Melrose, and Plymouth, Registry business can take much longer - averaging close to a half an hour in July.

But, oh, to live in North Adams. The average driver needed less than two minutes to get a license or registration there last month.

Kaprielian said most people don't mind spending 20 minutes at the Registry. It's the longer and unpredictable waits that drive them crazy.

In addition to requesting more money from the state, Kaprielian is trying to shift more of the agency's business online, so drivers do not have to go to the Registry.

Last year, more than a million transactions were performed online.

But the agency still serves nearly 4 million people each year at its 35 branches.

Drivers can renew and replace regular driver's licenses online, but have to come in at least once every 10 years to have a new picture taken.

Other services, such as requesting a driving record, can be done only in person.

More of those transactions could be completed online in the future, said Ann Dufresne, a spokeswoman.

Dufresne said the agency's wait times should also speed up once it replaces an older licensing database, a process that will take several years.

In the meantime, drivers may still want to get online, even if a trip to the local branch office is inevitable.

Throughout the day, the Registry's website lists updated waiting times at each branch. The afternoon wait time at Braintree was more than an hour Wednesday, but less than 10 minutes in Worcester.

Ervin Puskar, a 20-year-old MIT student, was on his second visit of the month as he stood in the hall of the Chinatown branch this week.

He had tried to get a motorcycle permit a week earlier, waited an hour, then left because he had an appointment elsewhere.

"There should be a way to sign up for an appointment. Or hire more workers," he said. "It's ridiculous."

Noah Bierman can be reached at nbierman@globe.com.