By NICO SCAVELLA
Tribune Staff Reporter
nscavella@tribunemedia.net
QUEUES will be eliminated and wait times reduced when the Road Traffic Department (RTD) moves to a fully automated system by mid to late next year, its controller predicted on Friday.
Ross Smith told The Tribune that officials at the RTD are seeking to fully automate six to eight of its sections, particularly driver and vehicle licencing, by July and October 2016 respectively. Those dates, he said can be "sooner or, depending if there are some glitches, it could be later".
Mr Smith also revealed that the department is currently in negotiations for the acquisition of a new building to house the department, something he said officials hope to conclude prior to them having fully streamlined its services.
Mr Smith said officials have already completed the "scoping" process for the driver's licence section of the automation programme, as well as for the "business and technical area". Next, he said, is the scoping of the vehicular registration process, which is expected to begin on Tuesday.
Once that is done, Mr Smith said officials will test the system "to make sure it's working not just in Nassau but throughout the Family Islands". That, he said, includes the department's stations in the Family Islands as well as "those within the administrative offices around the Bahamas".
Until that time, however, Mr Smith said the department will be focusing on training its staff and "getting people ready for the mindset of what is to come. Once we get the leaders with the right mindset, we know that we can transform the department into the direction that we need it to go," he said.
According to Mr Smith, once the system is fully implemented, people seeking to renew their driver's licence would no longer need to go to the RTD and stand in a line. Rather, he said the new automated system will allow for them to place an order "from the comfort of your own home" for the licence and "pick it up at your leisure".
"You can pay online," he added. "So we're encouraging more people to really pay by credit and debit card now. When they come now we already implemented debit and credit card payments, and its easier for us, easier for them, less money that we have to be dealing with at the end of the day, and I'm encouraging more and more persons to do that right now."
Additionally, Mr Smith said people seeking to renew their vehicle registration will no longer have to fill out a form. "When you go to get it registered a second time, the computer will bring up all the information about you, and what will happen is if there are any changes you can make the changes then," he said.
"A change of address, whatever it is can be made very quickly on the computer. The other thing will alleviate one of the processes. Right now we go inspection, writing, then the payment. We're going to eliminate the writing.
"You go from the inspection directly to the payment section, and that will alleviate that middle individual which will be quicker. We will have, at least in some instances, about six to seven cashiers in one area which will also alleviate some of the congestions we now have.
"What will happen is that the queues will be eliminated because the people would have had that information in already. What we will do at the initial stage is get additional persons to help us to ensure that information gets in quickly, so we wouldn't have those long queues. Once that is eliminated you will find that we're going to cut down the wait time at the cashiers's desk to three to five minutes. That's what we're aiming for."
"We're going live for driver's licences by the end of July of next year. And then we will go live with vehicular registration by the end of October. Now those are projected dates; they can be sooner or if there are some glitches it could be a little later."
Referencing the amount of human traffic that flows through the department on a daily basis - particularly at the end of the month - Mr Smith stated that the department is in negotiations to facilitate a "move" to a new building which he said should help "alleviate" some of the long queues plaguing the department.
"The queues are still too long," he explained. "On an average day we can get through easily. But end of the month, it's still too long and difficult to continue to address that situation where we are. That's why we're trying to get out of there. Getting out of there is very important for us. As soon as we can get out of that building, be able to properly accommodate people, you will see a great reduction in lines."
In May, the government signed an $8.3 million contract to modernize the RTD.
At the time, State Minister for Finance Michael Halkitis said that following a public tender process, New Zealand-based firm Data Toque was selected as the software and IT systems provider.
Subcontracters on the RTD project include two Bahamian firms, Network Security Consultant Group (NSCG) and Smart Consulting (SC).
In June, 2014, Transport and Aviation Minister Glenys Hanna Martin decried the "antiquated" state of the RTD and listed it as a "critical area for reform" given its revenue-generating potential. According to the minister, the RTD is the third revenue earner in the country.
Comments
banker 8 years, 7 months ago
Golly Gee, our Road Traffic Department has just made a big advancement and moved from the 1950's to at least 1995, maybe 2000 even. I love the way Smith says that with a computer, you can make a change of address quickly. Wait till he discovers that computers can look up and sort data as well. Those new-fangled things will befuddle the Road Traffic department. Those handwritten forms pasted to the windscreen of the car are very modern as well.
John 8 years, 7 months ago
P R O G R E S S even at a snails pace is progress. But automation needs proper management. Most times you go for your driver's license an they tell you the 'printer ainn working", or 'ad person who is do the license ain't ta work today". so you have to make several trips before you get straight. But most government online sites seems to be operating fairly good. Will mankind eventually live on the computer with no interpersonal interaction...just saying
ThisIsOurs 8 years, 7 months ago
We are computers! I'm almost certain God is a programmer (apologies to all atheists)
Emac 8 years, 7 months ago
Someone with so much gray hair and lack of knowledge in the technology field should be retired by now, even worst should not be leading a department that highly depends on technology! But I gat it, I just remember which governing party we under. SMT!
killemwitdakno 8 years, 7 months ago
Many need to move over and let the youngsters who know the latest and understand what's hip and standard in the markets procure and present plans for new implementations.
Part of business improvement is using your emoyees insight.
John 8 years, 7 months ago
Young men are known for their strength, older men with grey hairs are known for their wisdom. Since God is older than all of us and has wisdom and strength we should not push those with grey heads aside for the quick fingers and strong backs, until their time is done.
empathy 8 years, 7 months ago
Changes proposed are certainly welcomed.
Now if we can "scrape" that mirrored reflective covering from the cashiers' booth at government facilities like the Road Traffic Department we'd really be saying something positive about customer service, accountability and transparency in public institutions...
Hopefully that's not too much to ask for.....
sansoucireader 8 years, 7 months ago
Yes, get rid of those awful reflective coverings at the windows; I like to see who I'm giving my money to, thank-you. More cashiers too; serving one person at a time is S-L-O-W. Please get a microphone for the lady who calls out the names for licence-pick-up. Can be noisy in there and difficult to hear. Finally, please FIX THE A/C SYSTEM. Nothing but hot air blowing 95% of the time.
John 8 years, 7 months ago
In the main time local businesses and employees alike, are starting to feel the effects of the new minimum wage law. One major building store has put all its line staff on reduced days. Some persons are working 3 day a week and others four. A lumber company as cut its sales and delivery staff from 25 to 20. Someone who worked there says he was making $175.00 a week. He said that he use to make $20-$30 a day in tips so that was an additional $100.00 average he was taking home. Since he was one of the last hired, Saturday was his last day. Now he has no income. Fast food chains are also adjusting their line staff and considering some price increases to make up for the increase in labor costs. One chicken franchise, that is already struggling because its staff is well unionized cannot afford to increase its prices and will have no choice but to reduce staff. A local contractor says he use to take boys straight out of high school and pay them $175 a week as unskilled workers. "once they learn something, they become semi-skill and go anywhere from $200-$250 a week and continue to raise up. Now I can't hire some one I gatta train and pay them $210.00 a week because that mean I gatta raise my semi skill worker too. A straw vendor says she have a girl that would come in three or four days a week and work the stall while she do other things. Sometimes she make $200 in sales and sometimes she doesn't make anything. So now she have to reduce the days she come in, even though the girl is her grand daughter, or make other arrangements,
banker 8 years, 7 months ago
The really sad part is that one cannot live reasonably on that sort of money. Something has to be done to rescue the unskilled working class, which is the majority of the population.
John 8 years, 7 months ago
Minimum wage is really for someone starting out in the job market. Usually they still live at home and their paycheck is for their personal expenses. What is really sad is when you see a single mother with two, three, four children, applying for a job that pays minimum wage and she have to pay someone to keep the children while she is working. Then another situation is when someone has been in the job field for five, six, seven years and they also applying for a job that pays minimum wage. Their reason is they cannot find anything else to do and they could at least buy food with minimum wage.
Alltoomuch 8 years, 7 months ago
Talk about distraction!! How did the subject go from computerisation of the Road Traffic Dept. to minimum wage!! ?? Does anyone have any idea of how long this modernisation has been talked about?. I have been going to RTD for 44years and it has only deteriorated over that period of time. And this is the third biggest money maker for the country? My heart aches for the terrible working conditions of the staff there. I know of a Bahamian computer company that had put in proposals to modernise the Dept on at least 3 occasions over a possible 25year period and each time their proposal was rejected in favour of someone else. Whatever happened to those companies? and now they are dealing with a NZ company - Bahamianisation at all cost - once again - NO!
Mayaguana34 8 years, 7 months ago
8.3 Million dollars to an unknown company from New Zealand - Please investigate these guys and tell me where the other $5M gone
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