For a glimpse of the future of vehicle registration on Oahu, look no further than the unusual year that was 2020.

An estimated 128,300 motor vehicle registrations were renewed last year on Oahu at freestanding, self-service kiosks located in grocery stores, up from 32,310 a year earlier.

The coronavirus pandemic created an upheaval in the landscape of motor vehicle transactions, sending Oahu motorists to a newly discovered option remote from satellite city halls and available even during the shutdown periods.

The uptick in use of these self-service kiosks, which allow motorists to renew and print vehicle registrations instantly, is a welcomed side effect of the ongoing pandemic, as their use is anticipated to grow and become more accepted as a normal way to register a vehicle in a post-coronavirus Oahu.

These kiosks operate much like ATMs, giving motorists a convenient option to renew vehicles and receive new documents in minutes — while avoiding lines, maintaining social distancing and eliminating the wait time required for registrations by mail or online.

ATMs themselves may not be novel or new; however, the DMV Now system incorporates complex integration of hardware and software that replaces the need for mailing of registration certificates and emblems from the mainland.

This is a game-changing solution for DMVs nationwide, and has been adopted by at least 13 states across the country already. On Oahu, our sights are set on transitioning the registration of a motor vehicle from a waiting game into a convenient part of a motorist’s visit to the grocery store.

Currently, motor vehicle registration accounts for an estimated 70% of in-person transactions at the nine satellite city halls on Oahu. The increased use of DMV Now self-service kiosks not only provides convenience to the public, it also decreases the wait time at satellite city halls, which also accepts an array of other important transactions, including transferring ownership of vehicles and paying property taxes.

While city government is often criticized for lagging in technology and innovation, the public sector has a complex set of regulatory requirements that make the cost and time required to deploy technology more challenging than in the private sector. The DMV Now system is a public-private partnership with a national vendor that leverages its technology and system at other DMVs around the country, making this opportunity and convenience possible for those living on Oahu.

The City and County of Honolulu installed its first DMV Now self-service kiosks at four Safeway stores in February 2019. Since then, others have been deployed at a Foodland in Waipio, and a Sack N Save in Halawa, bringing to seven the total number of these bright yellow touch-screen kiosks that are no longer a nice-to-have service, but a must-have service as we adapt to a need to develop smarter delivery of this basic government service.

The growing use of these kiosks in communities such as Kapolei, Kaneohe and Waimalu has presented us with the opportunity to experiment with broadening access to them around Oahu. For example, we are exploring opportunities to install these kiosks this year at grocery stores in Mililani and the North Shore.

Seeing their use trend up during 2020, due in part to the coronavirus crisis, reveals that local government can operate outside its offices, and that our basic services can be accessible and functional from everywhere, including a grocery store.

Nola Miyasaki is director of the city’s Department of Customer Services.