Kansas driver's license renewal stuck in horse-and-buggy ways
Miriam PepperNeed to renew a Kansas driver’s license? Learn from my mistakes.
Don’t go at the beginning of the week, especially if the beginning of the week is a day after a holiday. Don’t go at the end of the week. Don’t go late in the day, with late beginning at 3 p.m.
Those are the tips I gathered from a state worker after I stood in line for a license renewal for 1 hour and 15 minutes. Stood is the operative word. Apparently the idea of handing out numbers when a line grows to dozens of people hasn’t hit Kansas yet. Or the nicety of offering a chair. Chairs exist. But the absence of a numbering system makes them look tempting but inaccessible.
On Tuesday afternoon dozens of us stood, and looked at our phones, and made small talk about how these state workers surely have job security because business is booming.
Missouri used to get a bad rap for state license renewal inefficiencies. It appears Kansas is making a run at Missouri for lower performance of a public service. Surely an old-fashioned number system would give the state’s residents a boost in confidence and a nice, hard plastic seat to enjoy. I guess it’s out of the question to dream of an online system that would speed and ease this horse-and-buggy operation.
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