Service Oklahoma hires more employees while lines continue to be hours long
BROKEN ARROW, Okla. (KFOR) - For years, News 4 has received countless emails and calls from frustrated Oklahomans who have waited hours for an appointment to get a new driver's license, only to be turned away in many cases.
The issue is now affecting an Edmond father and son who had to travel more than an hour to get a learner's permit at a Service Oklahoma location and then wait for hours.
"We just want to get this process done and it should be efficient and it's just not," Chris Branscum told News 4 while waiting in line.
On Monday, Branscum's goal was to get a learner's permit, from Service Oklahoma, for his son.
Service Oklahoma is an agency, created in 2022, with the goal of clearing long lines that formed due to Real IDs and during the COVID-19 pandemic.
You must go to a Service Oklahoma location to get a license if you're from out of state, you need to change the type of license you have, or if you need a new license or permit like Branscum's son.
You can only renew a current Oklahoma driver’s license at a Tag Agency.
Branscum saw locations online that were accepting appointments were not only far, but booked far out.
"For an appointment you're looking at mid September," said Branscum. "We didn't want him to miss school so we found locations that take walk-ins."
The father-son duo stayed the night with their family in Broken Arrow then hopped in an already long line at 5:20am Monday.
"Probably 150 plus [people in line]," said Branscum. "I would say we were about 40th in line."
Unlike many others, Chris made it inside.
"There was a young lady in front of me and he counted off the 10-12 for the driving test, she was next in line and they couldn’t get to her, that was the cut off," said Branscum. "The look on her face. She turned white. She was just angry."
Author of the Service Oklahoma bill, Representative Dell Kerbs, said the agency needs more staff after it combined the Tax Commission and DPS.
"Merging those two together we took all those employees and brought them in. and we had their vacancies at the time," said Rep. Kerbs (R) Shawnee. "We're constantly hiring and training and getting folks out there.
In May, Service Oklahoma told News 4 they were understaffed by 25%.
"We have 60 positions posted right now across the state to try to put more bodies in seats," said CEO Jay Doyle.
Monday, Service Oklahoma provided News 4 with the following statement:
“Since June 1, Service Oklahoma has onboarded 33 new employees that are already improving our daily transaction volumes and increasing capacity at our locations. Staffing, however, continues to be a significant area of concern. Service Oklahoma still has 48 open positions across the state, a third of those vacant positions are pending offers contingent on clear background checks. The starting pay for a driver license examiner is $19.06 per hour; interested candidates can apply at jobs.ok.gov.”
"It is working it is getting better and it will continue to get better," said Rep. Kerbs.
Meanwhile, Branscum's son has his learner's permit 6 hours later.