The Department of Motor Vehicles in San Luis Obispo has new permanent hours on Saturdays, which comes in response to a recent 92 percent increase in wait times for DMV customers in the region.
The DMV announced earlier this year it would be adding limited hours every other Saturday but it has since increased availability to nine hours every Saturday.
Customers said their wait times were down for the most part, but agreed the process still takes an inconvenient amount of time.
"I still had to wait and answer a whole couple pages full of questions," Glenda Silva said.
Silva came down to the SLO DMV from Atascadero in hopes that the service would be faster.
But she said the process of renewing her ID took close to an hour, which is the average wait time during a weekday visit to the DMV in this region.
But for many who made this Saturday stop, the DMV visit as a whole felt like a detour.
"It’s way less busy, been much more stream lined, way easier," Chris Pierce said.
Pierce made it through without an appointment in under an hour.
He was bested by one man who told said he entered the building at 11 a.m. and left ten minutes later with his renewed license in hand.
Ginny Austin said that was not the case hours earlier when the DMV first opened.
"(The line) was out the door, way out the door," Austin said, adding that she was surprised because, "I thought everyone would be in bed."
Eunice Kim said she stopped by not to beat the lines but out of convenience.
"I actually work Monday through Friday, so Saturday is the only day I could come in," Kim said.
The wait room, which typically packed like sardines, offered a lot more wiggle room this first Saturday. But the sentiment for most customers leaving the office is one of relief, according to Austin.
"It’s over for five years," Austin said.
