Tennessee Safety Commissioner Bill GibbonsNASHVILLE – State officials say they’ve shaved a few minutes off the average wait time to get a Tennessee driver’s license and hope to slice more once they install new equipment and software at driver services centers.
But that’s not happening immediately, Department of Safety and Homeland Security officials said. Installing the equipment and software, plus a doubling in the number of handgun-carry permit applications in the first six months of 2013, is causing delays.
Between Jan. 1 and June 30, average wait times at centers statewide (excluding reinstatement centers) fell from 34 minutes in 2012 to 31.5 minutes in 2013.
The average wait increased slightly from the first to the second quarter of 2013, from 30.5 minutes to 32 minutes.
Still, the department said in a news release, the overall decrease happened while the number of transactions at the centers slightly increased statewide.