2001 News Archive

Registrar of Motor Vehicles Dan Grabauskas announced that customer wait times statewide have been dropping as changes to improve customer service have been implemented and staff have been added to branches.. Last month 68% of all customers were served in less than 10 minutes, 87 in less than 20 minutes, and 95% in less than a half hour.

Current wait times compare extremely favorably to the average hour or longer that customers were waiting just 18 months ago.

"Reducing wait times has been our top priority," said Registrar Grabauskas. "People used to come to the Registry with their copy of War and Peace and now they can't even get through Green Eggs and Ham."

The Registry is able to monitor wait times more precisely since installing a state-of-the-art queuing system earlier this year, called Q-Matic. A greeter at the branch entrance gives the customer a ticket that is electronically issued by the Q-Matic system and provides an estimated waiting time. One of the biggest benefits of this technology is that managers in the branches and in our main Boston office can review this data and move staff to where they are most needed. This helps ensure proper staffing of particular branches which helps drive down delays.

The Cellucci/Swift Administration's "Registry Fix-it Bill" increased the Registry's funding enabling an increase in staffing levels, upgraded telephone and computer systems to create a more efficient operation, and the Q-Matic system.

Additionally, the Registry redesigned its website, massrmv.com, last year. Customers can now get duplicate licenses and Mass. IDs, renew registrations, obtain duplicate registrations, pay citations, change their address and order special plates at massrmv.com. These seven options available at massrmv.com represent hundreds of thousands of transactions that can now be completed online instead of in Registry branches, further reducing wait times.

Despite these positive results, Registrar Grabauskas cautioned, "I am very proud of the progress we have made to shorten lines at the RMV, but let there be no mistake; we still have work to do."

View Current Branch Wait Times

(See chart below for wait times at individual branches.)

Actual number of customers served June 2001
		Served in less than 10 minutes		Served in less than 20 minutes		Served in less than 30 minutes		Served in less than 40 minutes
Branch Office	Total Transactions	%	Number	%	Number	%	Number	%	Number
Beverly	8,989	71	6354	89	1641	95	552	97	205
Brockton	15,241	76	11613	94	2725	98	687	99	187
Cambridge Mall	3,293	58	1923	80	700	91	367	97	204
Chicopee	Closed
Fall River	8480	57	4834	77	1685	89	1012	95	509
Framingham	11281	69	7764	92	2626	98	692	99	170
Greenfield	2614	80	2104	94	357	98	112	99	26
Hadley	6711	90	6041	99	610	99	58	99	2
Haverhill	4150	53	2211	79	1062	91	527	97	231
James St.	1001	92	924	98	57	99	12	99	1
Lawrence	12406	61	7567	84	2926	94	1202	97	388
Leominster	12412	54	6662	78	3014	92	1750	97	590
Liberty Tree	1541	80	1227	92	182	97	79	99	25
Lowell	13088	77	10152	92	1964	97	589	99	239
Melrose	11117	67	7444	89	2451	97	850	99	285
Milford	894	99	886	100	8
N. Adams	2324	99	2304	99	18	100	2
N. Attleborough	12100	79	9604	94	1839	98	368	99	185
Nantucket	1808	84	1529	96	210	99	51	100	13
New Bedford	8273	60	5005	91	2532	98	617	99	85
Oak Bluffs	1597	77	1239	93	252	98	82	100	21
Orleans	376	62	233	88	97	94	21	98	16
Pittsfield	6297	91	5734	99	497	99	49	100	16
Plymouth	8571	87	7429	97	873	99	188	99	43
Quincy	13743	82	11264	96	1954	99	474	99	31
Reading	11760	72	8489	91	2208	98	871	99	169
Roslindale	5082	40	2034	63	1193	80	865	90	484
Southbridge	4887	76	3729	93	811	98	238	99	78
Springfield	16826	62	10503	85	3743	96	1936	99	482
Taunton	4813	89	4266	99	515	100	32
Washington St.	22550	57	12813	79	5136	91	2656	97	1382
Watertown	18894	59	11286	83	4394	94	2014	98	807
Worcester	16163	54	8735	77	3715	88	1740	93	855
Yarmouth	10443	61	6392	83	2310	95	1251	98	338
TOTALS	279,725		190294		54305		21944		8067
PERCENT		68.0%		19.4%		7.8%		2.9%
ACC. PERCENT			68%		87%		95%		98%