Aussie state's new driver's licence change to be trialled

Express lanes will soon be introduced at some transport service centres to help speed up driver’s licence renewal and vehicle registration in a bid to tackle lengthy wait times experienced throughout Queensland.

The state government has introduced the new plan in response to increased demand for Transport and Main Roads (TMR) services following the Optus data breach last year, which resulted in almost 200,000 new licences being issued between September 2022 and March 2023.

Demand has also soared due to the significant growth in interstate migration, which the department said led to a "huge number" of licence and registration jurisdiction transfers. The unprecedented demand has caused longer-than-average wait times across many centres throughout the state.

Express services for licence renewal

The new service will be trialled at eight centres across southeast Queensland including Chermside, Toowong and Helensvale. All trial centres will be up and running at the end of May.

Acting Transport and Main Road Minister Steven Miles said the express lanes will handle the straightforward and simple transactions like paying your rego or renewing a licence. It will also handle buying Heavy Vehicle Work Diaries, disability parking permits, taking images for driver's licence and industry authorities and blue and yellow cards.

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"The Optus data breach really strained services, with a record number of replacement driver licences issued," he said.

"All of the staff at TMR worked incredibly hard to clear the backlog and manage the huge workload so affected Queenslanders weren't inconvenienced further. But we’re always looking at ways to improve services, which is why we’re establishing this trial."

The department noted that close to 87 per cent of services have been moved online, but the face-to-face connection remains a preferred option for some customers and this will make their experience faster.

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