Shorter Lines in PennDOT Driver License Centers Coming

By: Megan Healey, Deputy Press Secretary

When it’s time to take your driver’s test, get your license renewed, or do anything else that requires an in-person visit to your local PennDOT Driver License Center, it’s usually a good idea to leave yourself some time. After all, you never know how many others will be waiting alongside you on their lunch break, or even a Saturday morning. But thanks to Governor Wolf’s GO-TIME initiative — where the governor asked state agencies to find new ways to modernize, innovate, or transform in order to operate more efficiently — PennDOT has found a way to ease congestion at some of its busiest facilities.

Through a software upgrade, PennDOT staff can now monitor wait times at 27 Driver License Centers around the state — in real time — and deploy additional resources in response. Already, a new camera has been added to one of the state’s busiest centers in Malvern, Chester County because of data analyzed through the new system, called ‘Orchestra.’ PennDOT Secretary Leslie Richards says this has cut the average wait time in Malvern from 90 to 30 minutes! Due to the positive results seen so far, PennDOT is installing Orchestra in nearly two dozen more high-volume centers. It’s one of several GO-TIME projects PennDOT has launched since January, and is a prime example of how simple upgrades can transform operations to better serve Pennsylvanians — one of Governor Wolf’s main priorities for a “Government That Works.”