ARDEN HILLS, Minn. — Nothing would have seemed out of the ordinary at the Arden Hills Department of Vehicle Services exam station, unless you looked at the calendar: Sat./Sun. November 2/3.
Saturday marked the first day that DVS would begin offering weekend road test appointments.
"Opening on Saturdays and Sundays just seemed to make sense," said Department of Public Safety (DPS) Commissioner John Harrington during a news conference Saturday.
The expanded hours run through December 22 at the DVS exam stations in Arden Hills, Eagan and Plymouth.
"We need to fix this. It's just as simple as that," Harrington said.
What the DPS is out to fix are long wait times for people wanting to take a road test.
A KARE 11 investigation found people waiting for hours outside an exam station before it opened, hoping to get a coveted walk-in exam. Why? Because the wait for an appointment is months long.
That KARE 11 investigation also found a system of standing appointments, which allowed students at certain driving schools to essentially skip the line.
Following the investigation, the DVS announced the practice of standing appointments would cease beginning in January.
So why are the changes just happening now? KARE 11 asked DPS Commissioner John Harrington that question during Saturday's news conference.
"I heard about the wait times probably starting around March, March or April of this year. And we were in the middle, as you may remember, in the middle of getting MNLARS fixed," he said. "The second priority that was set was we had to get ready for REAL ID ... And then the next priority was this one."
The weekend availability is a pilot program to see if expanded hours will get people appointments within 14 days of requesting them, as required by Minnesota law.
"We are working hard towards that 14 day window," DVS Director Emma Corrie said Saturday during the news conference.
In December DVS will evaluate the weekend appointments. If they think the expanded hours are helping, they'll continue into 2020.
Appointments can be scheduled online here.
After the KARE 11 investigation, some Republican lawmakers said they would hold hearings on a proposal to let driving school instructors administer tests to cut down on wait times.
When KARE 11 asked Harrington about that Saturday, he said they are open to that conversation, but would need to see more research on the idea first.