New online booking system for driver’s licence renewals

A new online booking system to renew driver’s licences could see long queues at licencing centres become a thing of the past.

The system was launched in Pretoria and is designed to speed up the process of service delivery.

The booking system is free of charge and can be used to secure a booking at Centurion, Akasia, Bronkhorstpruit and Waltloo licensing centres and is available for download at https://onlinecompanysa.co.za/book

Speaking to Vuk’uzenzele, Tshwane MMC for Transport Sheila Lynn Senkubuge said the move would go a long way in improving service delivery in the region.

“Lines at licensing centres are extremely long and people spend a great deal of time in long queues, and even have to take leave just to get things done.

“Sometimes the queues are cut. You will find that in certain areas they don't have parking. So it has been an extremely tedious process for the people who live within Tshwane and use those services.

“As a result, we are thrilled to announce that this will no longer be the case.

“What we have embarked on will help us deal with the influx at our licensing centres, due to this year being another five-year cycle return for thousands of applications who converted from the green barcoded identity book driving licence to the legislated licence cards of 2003,” said Senkubuge.

To use the system, drivers can register on the Online Company website to make the booking. Once at the testing station, they can skip the queue by presenting a printed email with the appointment details to security officials.

When doing this, motorists are also reminded to bring an optometrist’s certificate for the renewal as doing so can  reduce the time spent at the data capturing desk by around 60 percent.

In the future, the time taken to collect licenses could drop to 15 minutes according to Senkubuge.

An extra fee will be charged if drivers want their cards delivered to their homes or places of work and the amount paid will depend on the area of delivery. Fees are R96.45 within most of Gauteng, R141.41 for deliveries further away such as Hartbeespoort Dam, Brits, Vereeniging and Vanderbijlpark, and R204.34 in Rustenburg.