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Know before you go: New site gives possible wait times at Registry offices
By adamg on Thu, 05/19/2016 - 11:32am
A couple weeks ago, Jon Thompson was in line waiting to get his license renewed at an RMV branch when he wondered if he could use a wait-time data feed posted by MassDOT to show how long you might have to wait.
Massachusetts RMV Wait Times lets you pick an RMV location and time and shows you your estimated wait time, based on the data from that feed.
Thompson says that after the state released the data feed, some sites popped up to show you the live wait time, but that none collected the feed to try to let you plan out your visit in advance.
It's got 2 weeks worth of data in it now - and has been pretty good at predicting waits compared to the real-time data.
Obviously it can't predict weird out-there delays from crazy transaction backups - but as i collect more data I'll also include day-of-month in the models as I expect there will be spikes as registrations renew at end/start of month/etc.
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Comments
The RMV site has been doing
The RMV site has been doing this for quite a while.
Sort of
If you go to the RMV site, you can see the wait times right this second. What you can't do is see what the wait times might be like on Tuesday around 1 p.m. That's what's different with this new site.
YMMV
I got bitten by this at the Roslindale branch. The wait times were accurate as of when you got a number but it was an hour wait to get to the window where you got the number.
This *should* help with just
This *should* help with just that - since it shows you historically the busiest times to go - so you can plan around it.
All the boston.com stories from old studies said Tuesday's were the best day to go - but Tuesday's are one of the busier days at most branches now.
Currently Thursday's look like the best days at most branches - and oddly enough 11:30-1 seems like the best time if you can't get there at open -- but don't run late - as it looks like everyone shows up after lunch.
(There's a bunch more data available here: http://www.massrmvwaits.com/data.html ) (Yes I'm the author, and yes I wrote it while I waited in line.)
This *should* help with just
Like the app. But reading your comment I've quoted above, I couldn't help but be reminded of an old Mad magazine bit called "Let's Go For A Ride." Father gathers the family together and states "Hey, let's go for a ride. There'll be no traffic out there." Then they pan to a shot of the entire city, where every other family is saying "Hey, let's go for a ride. There'll be no traffic out there."
R.M.V.
NEVER GO TO WATERTOWN!!!!!!!!!!
AGREE!!
It's the closest one to downtown that has parking plus they've closed some of the suburban satellite locations (Framingham & the Galleria Mall used to be my go tos) so they see a lot more traffic now. Using the RMV wait time site seems to indicate there is always a wait - no sweet spot. The wait is there is long just to get a number - no number, you can't even enter the branch. Even then, they make you wait in the mall and the chances are real that you will be locked out as they get close to closing time - they will only process the people actually in the branch after a certain point. Plus - you can kill time shopping at Target but don't go to far as closing time approaches...
Wilmington Sucks
And the RMV there? Even worse!
Every worker is either a psychopath or a complete moron. There's one woman without teeth who knows it all, but the rest were never ready for any sort of prime time ever.
Some states
set aside appointments, so you can make an appointment to do all your RMV/DMV/BMV business and then go to it and get it done in a reasonable amount of time.
The only downside to that I've seen is that the appointments book up well in advance, so if you have something time-sensitive, you have to go and wait on the general line. Except you have to "work in" around the people with appointments, so it ends up taking the walk-in customers hours anyway.
There's really no winning, is there?