Business hours to be extended at three Driver and Vehicle Services centres in Perth in two-month trial

Weekday trading hours in three driver and vehicle services centres will be extended to before and after the average work day in a two month trial. Starting from June 30 the Cannington, City West and Mirrabooka centres will all be open from between 7.15am and 5.30pm rather than the normal 8.15am to 4.30pm timing. The trial will run for two months, ending on August 29. Despite the extra two hours of trading, no extra staff will be hired, with the trial running as cost neutral according to the Department of Transport. The move comes after three “Saturday blitz” trials over the previous 12 months in the same three centres which saw 12,800 people visit during the extended hours. Assistant Minister for Transport Jessica Stojkovski said more people than ever were using DVS centre services. “At the moment, we’re aiming at the high density places to reduce the wait times but as with all trials we will do evaluation and assessment and see if it is something that needs to be rolled out across the network,” she said. “At the moment, we’re really just focusing on making sure that people in Mirrabooka and the people that go to the City West and people out here in Cannington do have the capacity to come here outside of what we would call standard hours.” Department of Transport customer support services assistant director Chad Simeons said wait times were already more than 6.5 minutes quicker now compared to 12 months ago thanks to extra hirings and the latest trial could help further reduce wait times. “It’s going to be really good for our customers and it’s going to give working people more of an opportunity to come in before or after work,” he said. “We’re hoping to smooth out the transactions and that will hopefully lead to reduced wait times. “It is a trial so we aren’t certain what the outcomes will be but the idea is we’re pulling some levers to make it easier for our customers.” Ms Stojkovski also confirmed $4 million would be included in next week’s State budget for a new DVS centre in the Armadale or Byford area. The confirmation locks in a State election commitment. An exact location will be chosen following community and stakeholder consultation.