Go through life without ever having to enter a Department of Motor Vehicles office? That isn't so far-fetched an idea as the DMV moves ahead on its second "revolution" in a decade.

The first was launched 10 years ago under the banner "Reinventing the DMV" after the state agency publicly confessed that its public image as a heartless, inept agency was not entirely undeserved.

The need for DMV to transform itself from a top-down bureaucracy into a consumer-oriented service organization was spelled out in an April 1995 Car & Travel cover story: "Interminable lines, confusing paperwork and grouchy staff have made visiting DMV as popular as root canal."

And so the largely successful reformation of the DMV occurred on several fronts: Workers were retrained to view motorists coming to their offices as customers, not supplicants. New offices were opened to relieve overcrowding. Dingy facilities that had been as welcoming as a precinct interrogation room were redesigned as contemporary service centers. And those long lines of standing customers waiting to turn in vehicle plates or renew a driver's license gave way to a civilized system of taking a ticket and a seat until their number came up on an electronic board.

Virtual Visits

Today, the DMV finds itself once again in the process of reinventing itself. This time the impetus for change is not motorist dissatisfaction-it's the availability of the Internet in a period when all sectors of state government are being asked to reduce the size of their operating budgets and staffs.

And ironically, the most striking feature of this latest revolution is that it practically eliminates the need for motorists to visit a DMV office at all. In fact, the agency's new mantra is "Skip the Trip."

Under the leadership of the agency's current head, Motor Vehicles Commissioner Raymond P. Martinez, New Yorkers are being encouraged to conduct most of their DMV business from the comfort of their home or office by visiting www.nysdmv.com/.

The Web site, which went operational on a limited basis at the end of 1996, recorded 6 million "hits" in 2002. Actual online transactions are now approaching 1 million a year. Visitors are also downloading more than 220 different forms at a rate of almost half a million a month.

The availability of the Web site-open for business 24 hours a day, seven days week-has spared customers hundreds of thousands of trips to local DMV offices, says Martinez, while "helping us to spread out our volume" over time.

Expanding Services

The most popular online transaction has been renewal of vehicle registrations; 338,000 customers used this service in the first six months of 2003. Renewal of driver's licenses, which became available online only about four months ago, is expected to be another major draw to the DMV Web site.

Other key online transactions include ordering custom license plates, requesting personal driving-record abstracts (introduced in May), scheduling road tests and replacing lost or damaged vehicle titles, driver's licenses and registration certificates. The site can also be used to check on the mail delivery status of an expected driver's license or license plate.

"Every time we put in a new online service, it takes off like gangbusters," says Martinez. "There's a new generation that is very adept at using the Internet, with no hesitancy in doing transactions online."

With 11 million licensed drivers living in New York State, the DMV needs to make use of the latest technology to "keep pace" with the demands of the public, says Martinez.

In the view of John Corlett, the Club's assistant director of Government Affairs, "The DMV has done a good job in recent years to erase its reputation as the agency the public loved to hate." Now, with expansion of its Web site services, "they're making life even easier for motorists,"he adds.

If the Club's own surveys are any indication-72 percent of its AAA members already have access to the Internet-DMV's Web site is likely to play an even greater role in the future.

Very Accessible

Logically arranged, user-friendly and comprehensive, DMV's continually refined Web site has been the recipient of a number of awards, including "NYS Best of the Web 2002"from the Rockefeller Institute of Government's NYSFIRM forum group.

Click the "On-Line Service" bar on the www.nysdmv.com home page, and you're presented with a baker's dozen of available online transactions.

Each transaction includes its own set of detailed instructions. In renewing vehicle registrations, for example, you are provided with an overview outlining the three-step procedure (entering current registration information, confirming the vehicle description and paying the renewal fee), checklists of requirements and limitations in completing the process online, and an array of frequently asked questions.

One transaction, ordering a personalized license plate, can actually be fun to complete. First you enter the desired combination of letters, numbers and spaces (a total of two to eight characters). You'll find out right away if, say, "SKIPTRIP" is not already taken or prohibited. If it is available (it was a short time ago), a color image will appear on the screen. And if you like what you see, you can order it on the spot.

You won't be able to view the abstract of your driving record on a computer monitor. But you (and only you!) can instruct the Web site to mail you a copy of your record of accidents, moving violations and suspensions or revocations for the past three years.

Some transactions, however, can't be completed without a personal visit to a DMV office. But the online service can ensure it will be less time-consuming or troublesome. For example, if you're registering a privately purchased vehicle, you can click the "E-ZVisit registration option" on the home page to access information on the documents you need to bring to the DMV office and to complete a simplified application form to bring with you for the in-person visit.

As a sign of the DMV's confident, pro-active spirit, the Web site also encourages its cyberspace visitors to register a complaint, a comment or a compliment online.

"We consider ourselves the face of state government, the agency most people will have to deal with at some point in their lives," says DMV's Martinez. "So we always have to look for ways to improve ourselves."