'REAL ID' System Causing Delays For Drivers Licenses, According To Tulsa Tag Agency

A Tulsa tag agency said they are booked with appointments related to driver licenses for the rest of the year. They blame the long waits on the Oklahoma Department of Public Safety’s system to integrate REAL ID.

The staff at Central Tag Agency, located near East 15th Street and South Harvard Avenue in Tulsa, said it used to take a maximum of three minutes to get a new driver's license. They said the process now takes about 20 minutes for each person because the REAL ID system is slow.

Sydnee Jones, the office manager at Central Tag Agency, said the new system arrived in July. She said by August they had to move away from walk-ins to only scheduled appointments because of how long it takes.

Jones said their agency had gone from doing 100 licenses a day to about 28. She said this leads to confused and frustrated customers, as well as a loss in revenue.

Central Tag Agency is booked with appointments through the beginning of January, according to Jones. She said some spots around town are still doing walk-ins, but the wait could be nearly four hours in some spots.

Jones said these problems are happening across the state, and she has had people from the Oklahoma City metro drive to Tulsa just to get an appointment.

She said while the new REAL ID system is slow, they also do not get much help from the state office. She told News On 6 some questions and calls for assistance can go days before getting answered.

We reached out to the Oklahoma Department of Public Safety for comment. They sent us this statement:

“The Department of Public Safety is operating under a federal mandate to implement REAL ID. In order to comply, the agency had to completely modernize the system of issuing driver licenses and ID’s. There have been challenges, as there always are, with implementing a new system statewide. As issues have come up, we have diligently worked to fix them. In fact, the agency just identified and solved a problem with a particular form that was taking longer than it should to print. That issue has been fixed and all tag agents have been informed of the fix.

We are also working to answer all questions from tag agents in a timely manner that come into the help desk. All e-mails and calls received from tag agents are returned by the end of that same business day.

We encourage those who are able, to renew their Class D and CDL licenses and ID’s online at my.ok.gov. However, keep in mind, that credentials renewed online are not REAL ID compliant.”

Jones said more documents are needed to get the REAL ID, like a birth certificate and proof of residency, which could also make waits longer if you are not prepared. She said visiting the state’s REAL ID website to familiarize yourself with everything you need is a good idea.