The Minister of Transport and Sustainable Mobility, Geneviève Guilbault, announced a new 90-day extension for the validity of driving licenses. This is a second reprieve since the deployment of the “SAAQclic” tool, which has been experiencing failures since its implementation in February.
This announcement allows people whose driver’s license was due to expire between 1er June and the 1er next September to avoid a trip. They will receive a new license by mail along with a notice of payment.
“Although the situation has improved at the SAAQ since the implementation of numerous measures last March, I make sure to take all the necessary precautions to avoid excessive crowds in the branches,” said the Minister in a statement. communicated.
The Press Wednesday reported significant queues in several regions of Quebec. Tuesday, the newspaper Metro spoke of a wait “worse than ever” in certain SAAQ service outlets. Several customers who came to the Pointe-Claire branch would have waited more than two hours, again according to Metro.
Minister Guilbaut pointed to the new online tool as the main culprit for the additional delays at the time of the first 90-day extension, announced in March.
The SAAQ is more nuanced this time. According to the Crown corporation, many customers are still going to branches for transactions that could be done online. However, several people have reported in the media that they were unable to perform certain tasks that should be possible on “SAAQclic”.