Skip the driver’s license line. MS Coast drivers can soon make appointments online.
Mississippi Coast residents who need to renew their driver’s or firearms licenses will soon benefit from state efforts to shorten lines.
Residents of George, Hancock, Harrison, Jackson, Pearl River and Stone counties will be able to make various online appointments at Driver Service Bureaus in the Troop K region beginning Sept. 14 as part of the state’s new Skip the Line initiative.
Residents of the Jackson metro area will also be able to make online appointments, and these customers will receive priority over walk-ins.
The feature will be available to the rest of the state on Oct. 1, according to a news release from the Mississippi Department of Public Safety.
Firearm renewal applications are now mail-in only, effective immediately. They can be found at www.driverservicebureau.dps.ms.gov/Firearms/Home. The change eliminates the need to renew in-person and the requirement that customers be fingerprinted for a renewal.
Other changes coming as part of the Skip the Line program include:
An online livestream camera where you can view the lines at all major driver license stations. The feature will be active statewide on Oct. 1.
As of Oct. 1, the alphabet schedule will end. All services, including firearm renewal permits, will be available statewide every day of the week.
Newly appointed Public Safety Commissioner Sean Tindell said in a statement, “Shortly after taking office, we identified several redundancies in our processes related to renewals of driver’s licenses and firearm permits. We have worked diligently to remove these redundancies, resulting in reduced processing times for customers.”
“It will help Mississippians to skip the line and get in-and-out quickly,” said Gov. Tate Reeves in the statement. “That helps with COVID-19 safety. It’s also just better. It treats the people of Mississippi the way they deserve to be treated — with respect for your time and wise use of your tax dollars.”
In a press conference Tuesday, Reeves said drivers bureaus served about 267,000 customers from July through August, an increase of 77% from last year.
Wait times to get drivers’ licenses or ID cards renewed in Mississippi tripled on average from 2017 to 2019, according to a report from the Joint Legislative Committee on Performance Evaluation and Expenditure Review.
“While we still have a ways to go, we are making real progress,” Reeves said.
This story was originally published September 8, 2020 at 5:19 PM.