New Technology at Driving Licence Testing Centres to Reduce Waiting Time for Licence Cards

The waiting time for new licence cards from the City's Driving Licence Testing Centres is about to be reduced by up to 60% with the introduction of new Live Capturing Units (LCUs) at all testing centres across the city.

The new LCU technology allows for online, real-time capturing on E-Natis of applications. The LCU can electronically scan an applicant's Identity Document or Driving Licence Card to update the relevant personal data of the applicant on the system. It captures and records the results of an applicant's eye test and finger prints, while at the same time capturing an applicant's signature and photograph.

These units will eventually replace the vision screeners at the City's testing centres. This will be a shift from the often time consuming manual eye-testing and finger printing processes previously utilised, to a more user-friendly and quicker electronic capturing process.

The new technology will benefit residents in the long run as it drastically reduces the waiting period for applicants to collect their driving licence card or their card renewals by at least one month, from the current six to eight week waiting period, to a waiting period of only two to three weeks. Persons applying for a Professional Driving Permit, subject to the person not having a criminal record and paying the prescribed fee for police clearance, will now be able to obtain such a licence within approximately one month, whereas the waiting period used to be between three and four months.

"The introduction of this new technology is part of our drive to improve our services to the residents of Cape Town. We are excited about this new technology as it will make residents' dealings with the City more time-effective. We will continue to try and find ways of improving our service delivery to residents in all departments of the Safety and Security Directorate," said Richard Bosman, Executive Director: Safety and Security.

At Gallows Hill Driving Licence Testing Centre where seven LCU machines are operational, the average number of applications captured and processed on one LCU is 90 per day. By comparison the average number of applications processed via the manual procedures for both eye-testing and finger-printing was approximately 54 per day, bearing in mind that each procedure was done separately.

The LCUs are sponsored by the Provincial Government of the Western Cape's Transport Department and have already been installed at all of the City's Driving Licence Testing Centres, except at Fish Hoek, Eastridge and Philippi East (Joe Gqabi), where they will be installed shortly.

The LCUs will be used to process applications of Learner's Licences, Driving Licences, Professional Driving Permits (PrDP) and Driving Licence Card Renewals. Applicants are still expected to complete the relevant application forms and they must be accompanied by at least two black and white photographs. Another benefit of the new system is that before the introduction of the LCUs, four photographs were required.

The City would like to request residents to be patient during the introduction period of the new LCU testing devices, as teething problems may occur when the technology becomes operational at the testing centres. Any problems that may be experienced will be addressed as quickly as possible.

Issued by:
Communication Department
City of Cape Town