The Texas Department of Public Safety is headed for a big transformation. Six driver’s license megacenters are being built in various parts of Texas, such as San Antonio, Houston and the Dallas-Fort Worth area. The first of the six has already been built in Pflugerville, Texas, which is about four hours away from Plano. On Feb. 2, the Texas DPS joined city officials in the ceremony for the opening of the DPS megacenter in Pflugerville.

The megacenters are a part of the legislature’s $63 million initiative to shorten wait times. Each megacenter is going to provide at least 57 new jobs and is estimated to have 500 to 600 visits a day by motorists. Also, city officials hope that the new megacenters will spur development in small towns such as Pflugerville. 

“I hate going to the DPS and waiting in line for three hours and then there are only two workers helping people,” junior Ashleigh Ellison said.

However, the new increase in the number of employees working the counters is supposed to decrease the wait time at the DPS.

“I think the more people that are working, the faster things can get done,” junior Luisiana Hurtado said. “In order to improve the DPS as of right now, they could have better customer service, hire more people to the main desks and make the DPS look friendlier.”

The new DPS megacenters are set to accomplish most of these.

The megacenters are expected to change every single aspect of the driver’s license process and make trips to the DPS faster, easier and friendlier.

“I think the megacenters will improve the quality of DPS visits, and make the visit go faster,” Ellison said.

Services at the megacenters will include driver’s license renewals, new license acquisitions and replacement of identification cards.

 “I think the megacenters are great and will make trips to the DPS faster and more efficient,” junior Hannah Thompson said. “The changes that I wanted to be made to the DPS are being made to the megacenters. It is just great.”