“Our DMV has seats and a take a number thing, you sit there and enjoy the free entertainment of all the people coming and going.”
Same here. I was just at our BMV last week. My number was 66, and they were just in the 40’s, so I waited over an hour. Like you, I just people-watched. Ours was like the bar scene from Star Wars — all that was missing was the music! LOL!!
The DMV’s I use are run by a contract outfit. Maybe that is the reason for quicker service.
I had to take a number last time I went a couple of years ago near Houston, TX. They sent text alerts to my phone. My first one was "your wait time is estimated at 3 hours, 15 minutes". I think it ended up being about 2 hours, 50 minutes. All I was doing was taking the eye test and having my picture taken. My procedures took about 8 minutes or less.