MPI draws map to reduce test wait times

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This article was published 04/12/2022 (751 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Manitoba Public Insurance is trying to drive down waits for road tests to 45 days by the spring, after being caught off-guard by demand coming out of the COVID-19 pandemic.

MPI chief executive officer Eric Herbelin said Manitobans are currently waiting as many as five months for a Class 5 road test, which is the beginner level for drivers in Manitoba. For a Class 1 road test, the wait is up to two months.

On Monday, Herbelin told a government committee it plans to bring those waits down to 45 days and 14 days for Class 5 and 1 tests, respectively, by the spring.

“We’ve been taken a little bit by surprise in terms of the number of citizens who need our services, and there’s also a backlog that was created during the pandemic, especially as it relates to driver testing.”

Herbelin said the Crown auto insurer needed to make some investments in staffing, which interrupted driver testing services and reduced operating capacity.

Tory MLA Kelvin Goertzen, the minister responsible for MPI, said he’s doesn’t feel great about the current wait time for a road test but the plan to cut the queue is solid.

“I know it’s frustrating for people, and I hear it,” Goertzen said. “It’s not just frustrating for drivers but there’s an economic impact, whether you’re a new driver or a Class 1 driver.”

Goertzen said his son is part of the pandemic pile up of road tests and is waiting to get behind the wheel with an adjudicator. “They’ve got a good plan, and a good target to get these down to a reasonable level.”

Herbelin said MPI had too few testers heading into the pandemic.

“We’ve been hit by two effects: people wanting to (get) their driver’s licence at the same rate as they were pre-pandemic, plus the backlog, and that with reduced staff levels.”

MPI has hired and trained a number of new testers and has extended testing hours, in response.

“With that we hope that by spring, we’ll be back on track,” Herbelin said.

danielle.dasilva@freepress.mb.ca