DMV Decides Milford Service Center's Future: UPDATE

MILFORD, CT — The Department of Motor Vehicles announced today the temporary closing next week of the Milford and Derby service centers as part of the DMV’s developing strategy to strengthen customer services in its core full-service branch offices and help alleviate long wait times in these two small offices, DMV officials said in a news release. They are open only two days each week.

“The DMV lines in Milford City Hall have become just too long, and any closure would ripple into Derby where lines are also growing. Returning four staff workers to full-service DMV offices, where there’s also high demand Tuesday through Saturday, will help improve service overall where we serve many more people,” said DMV Commissioner Michael Bzdyra in a statement. Each small office is staffed by two DMV personnel.

Staff in these small centers is pulled from main branch offices to run them, DMV officials said. With lines and wait times growing in the small offices, the DMV plans to reassess how to use them. For instance, a recent study showed that more than 90 percent of visitors to these offices will wait in line for registration transactions when they could go online to do the transaction from the convenience of their home, smartphone or tablet, DMV officials said.

Also, licensing customers will soon have an online option. The DMV is working to enhance its licensing to include “skip-a-trip,” which would mean customers could do one six-year license renewal online before needing to visit an office, DMV officials said. "We expect this enhanced service to be available next year," DMV officials said.

These two centers provide various license and registration services. Milford is open Tuesday and Thursday, and Derby is open Wednesdays and Fridays. Both offices will close effective July 24. Customers using the centers can go to other nearby full-service offices in Hamden, Bridgeport and Waterbury. A full list of DMV offices can be found at ct.gov/dmv/offices.

“Closing any DMV service, even on a temporary basis, is a difficult choice, but we also cannot continue to burden these centers’ customers with long wait times,” the commissioner said in a statement.

Taking four staff members away from main branch offices to support each of these small centers (two staff members in each), severely impacts the services at the main branches and adds to wait times there, he explained, adding that operating with one person in each would cause further problems. Compounding the line problem is that lines and long waits for service occur in these small service centers, too.

“We also have heard the Mayor of Milford’s concerns about the long lines during the last few months. We appreciate his cooperation in offering options. Unfortunately, we cannot add staff to help reduce lines. However, we are reassessing the overall operations of these small offices,” the commissioner said in a news release.

“For more than a year now, we have been making a number of changes to improve DMV services. Our review will give us the opportunity to continue that process,” the commissioner said.

The DMV’s full menu of online services can be found at ct.gov/dmv. The agency encourages customers to check its website first before going into an office for services. They may find they can do it from home or work computer, smartphone or tablet.