ROCHESTER, N.Y. — Departments of Motor Vehicles are expected to start closing temporarily throughout New York state for staff training. This comes as part of the state Department of Motor Vehicles prepares for the first phase of its modernization project is set to roll out in February.

“This is going to give our staff the opportunity, prior to a mid-February rollout next year, to have access to that training. Our DMVs are very busy, as everybody knows. We can see almost a thousand people, if not more, every day,” Monroe County Clerk Jamie Romeo explained. “And that’s one of the main areas, why we need to make sure that we provide our staff the opportunity to do that in their workspaces, with the ability to really focus, and also not necessarily having to work on extra hours and overtime. Nobody wants to have to work an eight-hour day and then do several hours of training on top of that.”

What You Need To Know

New York state’s Department of Motor Vehicles is rolling out stage one of it’s modernization project in mid-February
Ahead of the improvements, DMVs across the state are getting their staff trained
Monroe County is closing all of its DMVs for staff training every Friday until mid-February
Completing trainings on a weekday saves money from the county budget and taxpayers wallets by avoiding overtime pay
The county is extending the hours once a week at one location, and continuing to offer its mobile DMVs 

Starting this week, DMVs in Monroe County will be closed every Friday until Feb. 13. During these days, staff will be trained on the DMV’s upgraded technology. The first phase of the state’s modernization project will be implemented by mid-February. According to the state’s Department of Motor Vehicles, the DMV has entered into a contract with a software company that has successfully implemented similar systems in more than 15 states. Romeo describes it as similar to getting a new computer, with a new window system.

“It’s modernizing in the way that the, the guts of the system and the infrastructure of the computer networks that the state has are supposed to be brought really into 2025, as opposed to some of them that were developed, well into the 80s,” she said.

In a statement, the NYSDMV says, “Through our modernization project, we will be replacing a patchwork of outdated computer systems, software and databases and consolidating them under one, modern system. It will allow us to better serve New Yorkers and will also put our agency in better position to continue modernizing in the future as technology improves. This project will be rolled out in two phases with the first phase in early 2026.”

Monroe County is just one of the counties across the state beginning their training. Romeo says the modernization is upgrading some technology for the first time since the 1980s, so some staff needs the time to learn and re-learn the skills they need to keep things moving properly on the job. However, some residents may find the decision to close on a weekday as inconvenient.

“Fridays is one of my days off at work, man. So, that is a bummer,” John McCormick said. “This is the beginning of a snowball effect that’s going to affect all of us one way or another. Just buckle in and up and get ready for the ride.”

Romeo says that the training is done on a weekday, during normal work hours, for two reasons. For starters, it prevents DMV workers for having to come in off-hours, and working more when they could be home with their families. Plus, keeping the workers on their normal schedules save money from the county budget, and prevents taxpayers from paying DMV workers higher overtime wages.

“At the end of the day, we should not see as many outages or glitches,” Romeo said. “Anyone has gone through a Save verification. It should be done relatively faster. And it should also just make your entire trip to a DMV, hopefully, a little bit smoother and easier. Because we’re updating this technology, the state is going to be updating the technology.”

The state’s DMV reports the second, and what’s expected to be final, stage of the project’s implementation is anticipated to be completed over the next four years.

In the meantime, Monroe County will be offering extended hours at at least one DMV in the county per week. This is in addition to its mobile DMVs. It’s advised to check your county’s website to see your nearest DMV’s hours before heading that way because some mobile DMVs aren’t fully equipped to complete every task a normal DMV would. So double-check that you’ll have everything you need, and the action you need done at the DMV.