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Idaho DMV offices reopen after system upgrade

Department of Motor Vehicle offices across Idaho reopened Monday with a few kinks, after a two-day closure.

BOISE — Department of Motor Vehicle offices across Idaho reopened Monday after a system update.

“Over the last four days we implemented new software for our driver’s license services,” Jake Melder, Idaho Transportation Department public information specialist, said. “It was a big pull, we had a lot of data that needed to get transitioned off our old mainframe onto this new, updated system.”

The previous mainframe was from the 1980s.

“As things started this morning, we did have a few little kinks to work out. We're still working through some of those things. There's still a lot of training that's going to be required for the operators at the counters,” Melder said.

People who visited the DMV in Ada County on Wednesday told KTVB they experienced wait times ranging from one to five hours.

“My kids and I got here at 8:30 a.m. and the systems were down, and they told us we could wait or go, but I needed to get this done today because it's my only weekday off,” DMV customer John Smith said. “We stayed, and the systems came back up and they were trucking away for a while and then they said the systems were down again and you could stay or go. A group of people got up and left, but we just stuck it out.”

Smith completed his business at the DMV, but some people told KTVB that they would return later, rather than wait.

The system upgrade is expected to improve the DMV’s security and processing.

Phase three of the upgrade will look at driver’s title services and is expected to be completed by 2019.

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