DMV Fails

1. Accessibility Fail. Why the fuck is Georgetown now the only DMV location in NW that does drivers’ license shit? Sometime in the past few years, apparently the DMV changed the C Street location to provide “adjudication” services and only adjudication services, leaving us with a tiny DMV in a tiny, depressing shopping mall as the only option in NW if you need to obtain or renew your license in person.

This is completely misguided since for one thing, getting to Georgetown (unless you already live there, I guess) is a huge pain in the ass. Either you have to take the bus, which we all know is inefficient at best, walk (several miles if you live in upper NW, and I can only assume this one DMV is supposed to serve everyone in the entire quadrant), or drive. Okay, it's likely you are a driver if you need to go to the DMV, but what if you don’t have your license yet or your license is expired??

AND, for another thing, if you DO elect to drive, you then have to deal with a completely cocked up parking situation involving cobblestone streets, battling a bunch of doucheball drivers (and pedestrians), and/or that bullshit mall garage where you can drive around for hours looking for a space, all the while trying to dodge all the giant SUVs belonging to assholes who decided they were tired of looking and just parked in the traffic lane. Jesus.

2. Hours of Operation Fail. If Georgetown is going to be the only location in NW providing drivers’ license services, could it please not be closed on Mondays? Is it a fucking bakery now??

3. Website Usability Fail. If you’re going to have non-standard hours for your DMV, could you please not jack up the code on your website to the point where said website doesn’t display correctly on an iPhone so that people can fucking find out your shit is closed before they schlep to Georgetown?


Before this ill-conceived switch to an adjudication services-only C Street, I actually didn’t think our DMV was any worse than any other state’s DMV. I mean sure, it’s annoying to have to go down there and TCB, but it was pretty efficient and I never dealt with anyone particularly unpleasant. Now, of course, it’s a lot worse since everyone has to go to Georgetown and that office is just too small to deal with the vast increase in number of customers, so the line was out the door and no one knew what was going on. But, you know, every reasonable person expects a trip to the DMV to be a crapfest, and DC’s DMV doesn’t present any more or less of a crapfest than any other state’s DMV that I’m familiar with -- so my issue isn’t with that. It’s with the jackassery of Georgetown and the lameness of having such limited options. DC government, to borrow a line from my other favorite DC blog, I will see you in hell.