People wait in line at the Department of Motor Vehicles’ Office in Jamestown on Monday. Visits to local DMV offices may not always be in-and-out, but most usually don’t last longer than 15 minutes, according to County Clerk Larry Barmore. P-J photo by Jimmy McCarthy

While many can renew their license or registration online, local Department of Motor Vehicle Offices are still seeing a steady flow of customers.

It may not be an in-and-out visit, but wait times in most cases have lessened now that clerks can take care of a client’s needs in one place.

Depending on the time and day, wait times at DMV offices are generally five to 15 minutes, according to County Clerk Larry Barmore. In the past, local offices had separate windows to check paperwork and take care of customers’ needs. That system has since been eliminated.

“We have a line and whoever is at the front of the line gets called to the next available window,” he said. “No matter what window you go to, they can check paperwork and cash you out. You no longer have to sit down and get back up for somebody to help you.”

Through New York State’s DMV site, individuals have the ability to renew their license or registration. It’s saved people who don’t have the time in a day to frequent a local office.

However, Barmore said there are roughly 15 things that can only be done by visiting a DMV office. Such instances include turning in license plates and taking a learner permit exam.

While the state DMV website has taken business away from local offices, equipment problems stemming from Albany has been the main hindrance to the local operation. At times, Barmore said the system has gone down anywhere from an hour to a whole day. There’s nothing local offices can do in those instances until the state resolves it.

“There were days when the whole system went down statewide,” Barmore said, adding that issues were seen just before Memorial Day weekend. “It was down the whole day that Friday.”

While minor outages have occurred since then, the state has made improvements to the system. And while a majority of online transactions go to the state, Barmore said the state has agreed to give counties a small portion.

“We’re trying to make sure we’re self-sufficient to pay for what we do,” Barmore said. “The tough thing is you can go on the state website and do almost everything online. That’s why we’ve been fighting with the state about getting a percentage of deals they do online.”

The Jamestown DMV Office is seeing improvements after its relocation from the South County Office Building on East Fourth Street to West Third Street. Barmore said the move improved parking and space to allow for a better flow of customers coming in and out of the door.

“You can come in and you’re out of the way of the door,” Barmore said. “It’s just a lot better flow of traffic.”

Individuals can fill out a survey regarding their experience at a local DMV office by visiting the County Clerk’s website and clicking the Department of Motor Vehicles tab.