DPS Warns Oklahomans To Expect Long Waiting Times At OKC Megacenter

The state Department of Public Safety is warning customers to expect long lines at their new megacenter to renew their driver's licenses or get a Real ID.

The department said people waited in line for five hours on opening day on Monday.

Appointments had to be cut off at 5 p.m. because they had so many people in line, it took workers until they closed at ten to get through them all.

News 9 spoke with Jeff Hughes, one of the first people in line Tuesday morning. He said he got to DPS super early because he saw the line on Monday and decided not to wait.

"I learned about this place over the weekend. I rolled in around 12 and there were hundreds of people in line already, and so I decided to come back this morning," he said.

Tuesday morning, he made sure he didn't run into that situation again.

"I was surprised I was the first one. I thought there would be people here after seeing the Department of Public Safety the other day and the line yesterday. I thought there would be a dozen people," Hughes said.

News 9 also spoke with a woman who went through the process on Monday. She said it took her four hours to get through the line Monday night and took about 25 minutes to get processed once she got to the booth.

She says according to a count tracker she saw at the facility around 500 people got help by the end of the day. That is about half of what D-P-S projected.

Sarah Stewart with DPS said they do expect to drastically reduce wait times the longer the megacenter is in operation. 

They are asking people to be patient and bring water when visiting the megacenter. 

Some things to note: you can only renew your license and/or ID at the megacenter if you are within one year of the expiration date.

If you are getting a Real ID there are some extra documents you need to have.

For complete information on the metacenters and the documents needed to obtain a REAL ID, please visit realid.ok.gov.