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The N.C. Division of Motor Vehicles is pulling the plug on a shortcut that allowed Charlotte-area motorists to avoid long lines in driver license offices.
Citing budget cutbacks, the DMV said it will close the Express Office in the Eastway Shopping Center at the end of the day Friday.
The Express Office allowed motorists to renew licenses and replace lost or damaged licenses – without the long wait that is common at many other DMV offices in the Charlotte area.
“We are facing budget cuts, and for several reasons, we decided this was the way to go,” said Marge Howell, a spokeswoman for the DMV.
She said fewer people have been using the office in recent years, as the DMV changed the renewal period on licenses from four years to five or eight years.
But she also said overtime and mileage money for DMV employees has been severely trimmed, and the Express Office was staffed by agents from other Charlotte-area offices.
“Those people have to drive to the Eastway office, and the mileage money has been cut,” Howell said.
She said agents will be moved back to their regularly assigned Charlotte offices, increasing staff levels there.
When asked about long lines at Charlotte offices, Howell said, “The average wait for a driver license statewide is 18 minutes.”
Howell said the Express Office was opened 20 years ago and was one of a kind in North Carolina.
“It was the only place where we tried the experiment,” she said.
Howell said motorists can make address changes and get duplicate licenses at the DMV Web site, www.ncdot.gov/dmv.
