ANDERSON — The city’s Bureau of Motor Vehicles office opened in its new location on the south side Tuesday in a move that a state BMV spokesman said was “customer friendly.”
The new branch, at 4330 Scatterfield Road, replaces the old BMV on East Fifth Street downtown. Indiana BMV Deputy Communications Director Graig Lubsen said added features at the new branch, such as public restrooms and a new, lighter paint job, were more attractive for customers.
“The parking situation at the old location wasn’t the best,” Lubsen said. “(The new location) is on a more traveled road, and the interior design is better for customer flow.”
BMV workers used the weekend to move into their new offices, transporting equipment and doing a test run to make sure the new branch would open Tuesday morning without hiccups. Lubsen said the transition went smoothly.
The new branch was busy Tuesday around lunch time, with the check-in line snaking along the wall. Middletown resident Paul Dunn said the new location would be much more convenient for him after the Middletown branch was closed in recent years.
“From my standpoint, it’s going to be much more convenient,” he said. “Space-wise, it almost seems smaller. As long as they can still get the customers through, it’s fine.”
Anderson resident William Jackson said the new branch was more convenient for him, as well, but he took an unwanted detour Tuesday when he first went to the old office before being directed by a sign to the new Scatterfield Road location.
“At least you don’t have to worry about parking here,” Jackson said. “I hated the parking at the other one.”
Jackson said the new branch seemed slightly smaller than the old one, and he wasn’t thrilled with what he believed to be a new system of calling out customers’ names instead of calling them by number.
“What do they do if they call your name and you miss it?” he asked.
Lubsen said the state BMV office had been looking at branches whose leases were up to take the opportunity to update them with the new customer-friendly style. A branch in Indianapolis also moved over the weekend, he said.
Contact Aleasha Sandley: 640-4805, aleasha.sandley@heraldbulletin.com.
