TRENTON – The New Jersey Motor Vehicle Commission has increased weekly transactions by 25 percent compared to its weekly average in the four years prior to the COVID-19 pandemic. In May, nearly one year after re-opening, the NJMVC averaged 283,000 weekly transactions, far surpassing its baseline rate of transactions from 2016-2019.

Year-to-date average weekly transactions through May stand at 234,000. In 2020, that figure was 176,000 during the eight months the Commission was open, and from 2016 to 2019, the average hovered around 225,000.

“To achieve this, the NJMVC successfully changed the way it does business by moving most of its services online during the pandemic,” said NJMVC Chief Administrator Sue Fulton. “We shifted millions of transactions to our website, made continual upgrades to our operations, and have been able to process an extraordinarily high number of transactions despite COVID.”

NJMVC Transactions
Agency, Mail, Online

The NJMVC has transformed how customers access services. Today, nearly 60 percent of total transactions are processed online by customers at any time of day or night that is convenient for them. That’s nearly double the percentage of total transactions conducted online compared to two years ago.

And in that same time, the NJMVC has more than tripled the number of individual transactions that customers can conduct online. Now more than 75 percent of NJMVC services are available online, providing more convenient options for our customers.

Prior to 2019, only a handful of NJMVC services were available online. Now more than 30 services are available at NJMVC.gov, including:

• document renewals, duplicates and replacements
• address changes
• surcharge and fee payments
• organ donor registration and more.

Fewer In-Person Visits
Today less than a quarter of transactions require an in-person visit, down from about 50 percent in 2019. And now only 17 percent of services are processed by mail.

Most license renewals and vehicle registrations (85-90 percent) are now handled online. Due to many operational changes, the number of transactions that require an in-person appointment or visit have dropped dramatically over the course of the past year.

Major Technology Investment in IT and Infrastructure
The NJMVC’s significant investment in new systems and IT infrastructure helped propel this major change in service access in the past two years.

Top technology improvements in hardware and software include:

• Replaced most agency hardware including all 39 agency servers
• Installed a new, more flexible operating system
• Upgraded POS (payment) system to a cloud-based system that speeds processing of credit and debit cards, and has flexibility to add future digital payment options
• Expanded payment options accepted in agencies and on website
• Implemented text messaging notification for queuing
• Added online appointment system
• Installed identification of the next available appointment at each location
• Listed total number of appointments available statewide for each transaction
• Added software solution that recognizes which customers may renew licenses online (can’t be done online if license has expired more than 3 years)
• Integrated Google Translate into website and appointment scheduler so non-English speakers can more easily book appointments and navigate the website
• Advances in IT stabilization, resulting in zero agency days closed due to an NJMVC IT outage in 2021

“COVID has posed immense challenges, but our employees have worked exceptionally hard throughout to enhance our service and modernize the Commission,” said NJMVC Chief Administrator Sue Fulton.

New Agencies

• Opened new agency in Wayne in October 2020
• Opening a new agency in Elizabeth this summer

Additional Improvements

• Implemented appointments for nearly all transactions that require an in-person visit to reduce long lines and improve service
• Launched program for driver licenses regardless of immigration status, expanding access to hundreds of thousands of NJ residents
• Transitioned license and ID production to central issuance for added security and reduced wait times in agencies
• Added Gender “X” option to licenses and IDs, so New Jerseyans have the freedom to accurately identify themselves on their licenses and IDs
• Added cameras at several road test locations, to process new licenses on the same day drivers complete the road test
• Installed no-contact drop boxes where license plates may be surrendered at 36 agencies

“These changes have had an extraordinarily positive impact on operations,” said Chief Fulton. “That they were accomplished in just under two years and during COVID is a major tribute to the dedication of our agency employees on the front lines and at headquarters in Trenton. We will continue to innovate and develop new ways to meet the needs of all of our customers.

“We anticipate capacity will increase even more over the next several months, as employees return from leave for child care, family care, and COVID-related issues, and as the first big influx for status-neutral licenses subsides.”