Demanding Answers: What Are NJ Officials Doing To Eliminate Excessive Waits At The DMV?
NEW YORK (CBSNewYork) -- Computer and other problems have been forcing customers to wait on long lines at DMV offices in New Jersey.
As CBS2's Christine Sloan reported, lines wrapped around offices with some customers never making it in -- even after taking a day off from work -- because of computer failures.
CBS2's Sloan took their complaints to the governor, to find out what he was planning to do about people getting sent home after long waits.
"A few things Christine, first off I'd love to urge the public -- and this may be in vain -- attempt to not wait until the last three days of the month to do what you have to do," he said.
Customers said it's not just at the end of the month -- or the beginning - a lot of people said it's random, and the computer outages have not been confined to the end of the month.
"The numbers just don't prove that out," Christie said.
The governor did admit that staffing has been increased because it has been low at offices and that he's appointed a new information technology director who's figured out the cause of the crash of the antiquated system.
"Because we've so modernized and we've invested more in the MVC, it was not catching up to the state main frame, the state main frame is older," Christie said.
So why is it taking so long?
"The legislature and executive branch are gonna to have to step up to the plate and invest more in our computer technology," he said.
The governor has asked the new IT person to give him a plan by September on what it will cost to completely modernize the system.
The governor is also urging drivers who qualify to use the 'skip the trip program' that allows renewal through the mail -- envelopes are sent home by the MVC.
