honoluluadvertiser.com

Sponsored by:

Comment, blog & share photos

Log in | Become a member
The Honolulu Advertiser
Posted on: Wednesday, March 23, 2005

Drivers can book road test, skip lines

By Robbie Dingeman
Advertiser Staff Writer

Honolulu officials see a new online system where people can make appointments to take a driver's license road test as a way to shorten long lines at the five O'ahu offices. They said it makes the process simpler for everyone at no added cost to taxpayers.

How to find it

Go to www.honolulu.gov.

Click on "on-line services."

Go to the box titled "just a click away" and click on "I would like to ..."

Click on "schedule a driver's license road test online."

See the home page of the Appointment for Road Test System.

Click on "I have read and accept the terms stated below" to get to the calendar of available appointments.

"None" means that no appointments are available for that time on that day at your requested location. Try different dates until you find an open appointment.

Source: City and County of Honolulu

The system unveiled yesterday by Mayor Mufi Hannemann allows people to get on a computer and select an appointment place, date and time from among those available in coming weeks.

Before this, an applicant would have to make at least two visits to the driver's license office — once to make an appointment and then to take the actual test — and stand in at least three lines, said City Customer Services Director Salvatore Lanzilotti.

Under the new system, applicants can trim that to one visit — and if they pay online with a credit card — just one line, he said.

Greg Azus, of Hawai'i Kai, said as a parent he likes the sound of the new system. His son is 18, with a learner's permit, and keeps delaying the road test because of the long lines.

"It was just such an inconvenience before," Azus said yesterday. "I think this will erase some of the hassles involved with having to go down there. It's so much simpler."

Azus said his son and a friend even tried to get in as walk-in appointments a couple of times.

"They left here at 4 or 5 in the morning," and still ended up two people short of getting an appointment, Azus said.

People will still be able to stand in the first-come, first-served line for a limited number of walk-in appointments, Lanzilotti said.

The city offers 19,000 to 20,000 road tests each year, or about 16 appointment slots at the five examining stations each weekday, he said. Taking the online applicants out of the queue should shorten the lines for all, he said.

Beginning this week, applicants could begin booking their road test appointments by computer, Lanzilotti said. Much of March was booked by late afternoon yesterday, but there were still online slots in April and beyond.

City workers were able to come up with the computer option, and "it didn't cost us extra money," Lanzilotti said.

He said the city is trying to make the system more user-friendly and looking to make it easier to access for those who don't own computers.

Reach Robbie Dingeman at rdingeman@honoluluadvertiser.com or 535-2429.