$27.6 Million Contract Will Bring High Tech Kiosks To Grocery Stores For DMV Transactions
Submitted by Nevada News Bureau on Mon, 08/15/2011 - 2:13pm
DMV chief Bruce Breslow explains a new kiosk contract to the Board of Examiners today. / Photo: Sean Whaley, Nevada News Bureau.
CARSON CITY – The state Board of Examiners today approved a 10-year, $27.6 million contract to install kiosks in grocery stores statewide where Nevadans will be able to renew car registrations, extend drivers licenses and perform other tasks that might otherwise require a trip to a Department of Motor Vehicles office.
The contract with Intellectual Technology Inc. will be paid for by charging fees to those using the kiosks, $1 for all transactions but car registration renewal, which will run $3, said Bruce Breslow, director of the DMV. The state is currently paying the company $5 for each car registration renewal, but the amount users will pay was reduced in the new contract.
DMV chief Bruce Breslow explains a new kiosk contract to the Board of Examiners today. / Photo: Sean Whaley, Nevada News Bureau.The purpose of the kiosks is to simplify DMV transactions for the public while at the same time reducing the need for staff to operate the state’s multiple DMV offices, he said. DMV offices may close at 5 p.m., but a kiosk in a grocery store will be accessible 24 hours a day, Breslow said.
“Let’s say you live out in Summerlin,” he said. “By the time you get in your car, take the freeway, find the DMV office, wait in line at the DMV, get back in your car and negotiate the traffic to get back there, that’s two hours of your life plus a couple of gallons of gas. So certainly a dollar is a better alternative than that.”
The state expects to add 40 kiosks at stores around the state in the first two years of the contract, most in Southern Nevada where the DMV wait times are usually longer than in other locations. More kiosks may be added if there is demand.
The new kiosks are expected to be available beginning next spring. The state has 27 kiosks now, most located in DMV offices, but some services, such as renewing a driver’s license, are not yet available using the existing machines, he said.
The board, made up of Gov. Brian Sandoval, Attorney General Catherine Cortez Masto and Secretary of State Ross Miller, approved the contract.
Sandoval asked for a presentation on the contract because of the size of the agreement.
“This number is very large, but instead of an expense for the state, this is actually a savings for the state,” Breslow said.
The current kiosk program subsidizes the cost of each transaction from the state highway fund, he said. The Legislature changed this to allow the fee to be charged to the user for the convenience of using the kiosk, Breslow said.
“So we’re hoping to take about 12 percent of the line, of the people that are currently coming to the DMV, and making it a lot more convenient for them not to have to come to our building, and to do it in their neighborhoods,” he said. “But we have a lot of education to do.”
A lot of the stores that will be hosting the kiosks will be getting the message out to the public that the DMV services will be available at their establishments, Breslow said.
Sandoval complimented Breslow for reducing wait times at DMV offices, as well as the feature on the agency’s website that shows the wait times at the different offices.
Breslow said many DMV tasks can be accomplished using the agency’s website, but that usage has topped out at about 33 percent for on-line activity. Some people prefer the kiosks, which can also provide information in Spanish, he said.
Breslow said the new machines won’t take cash, but they will take credit and debit cards and will scan a check as well.
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Audio clips:
DMV chief Bruce Breslow says the kiosks will be available 24 hours a day for DMV customers:
081511Breslow1 :18 a Sunday, so.”
Breslow says most transactions will cost the user $1:
081511Breslow2 :17 down to $3.”
Breslow says a $1 fee is cheaper than spending time on the freeway to wait in line at a DMV office:
081511Breslow3 :18 alternative than that.”
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