LESS than a year after Service NSW started in Orange, it has already reported high rates of improvement on waiting times and customer satisfaction.
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The Orange Service Centre celebrated Service NSW’s first birthday yesterday and manager Andrew Bannister-Tyrrell attributed the business model’s “spectacular” success to motivated staff and improved systems.
“We worked really hard in terms of improving the functionality of a lot of the business transactions that we have available, so that’s done a lot to actually speed the process up,” he said.
“The concierge model that we have allows us to triage customers, so some don’t even need to wait.”
Since the former RMS motor registry moved from Leewood Drive to Lords Place in September last year, the centre now employs 17 people and has served more than 60,000 people, with customer satisfaction at almost 99 per cent.
Waiting times have averaged 5.22 minutes.
Despite some early public apprehension about the change, Mr Bannister-Tyrrell said few complaints had surfaced and people had also adjusted to the five-working-day waiting times for new drivers licences, photo cards, mobility cards, and security and firearms licences.
“That was an RMS decision centred around being able to provide greater security over the licence card and if you centralise the production, you can do all those things,” he said.
The centre includes Roads and Maritime Services, Fair Trading, Housing NSW, Office of State Revenue, NSW Seniors Card, and Births, Deaths and Marriages enquiries, while the heavy vehicle inspection facility has remained at Industry Drive.
Member for Orange Andrew Gee said he found the 7am to 7pm weekday and 9am to 3pm weekend services more convenient.
“I was only here a couple of weeks ago to do my car registration. I came in on a Friday evening well after 5pm and, in the end, I had to go home and pull out the insurance and I came back on Saturday afternoon after my son’s soccer game, so it just doesn’t get any more convenient than that,” he said.
“Who would have thought a government department was actually focused on service for customers? That in itself is a revolutionary way of thinking.”
The Orange Service Centre will celebrate its first birthday on September 9.
For more information, visit service.nsw.gov.au or call 13 77 88.
danielle.cetinski@fairfaxmedia.com.au