For a second winter in a row, DriveTest plans to change the Renfrew branch to a part-time travel point location. This comes at a time when people across the province are scrambling to book road tests, often driving up to six hours away to book a coveted position. Their rationale is based on Renfrew's past booking numbers, which in no way reflects the current situation with COVID-19. Having a driver's licence is not just a privilege in rural communities, it's an absolutely necessity, as our county lacks basic public transit infrastructure.

It's estimated that over 400,000 people have been trying to book road tests in Ontario since the end of the last lockdown. DriveTest has hired new examiners and opened new locations, but not nearly as many as they promised. Why would they close a location that is fully staffed and fully booked and busy from open to close at a time when they're mandated to be opening new locations?

The Renfrew branch is regularly overwhelmed with road test applicants from across the province, including high-risk areas like the GTA. Drive Test should be keeping branches open and turning travel point locations into full time locations, not closing locations and opening new part-time spots in the city. Every person that comes here from areas with high infection rates puts our local examiners and office staff at risk. They have been risking their health and wellbeing daily to ensure that Ontarians can get a licence, and now they face being laid off or put down to part time hours. This makes no sense when so many people in our area are waiting for a test. 

In our rural community, having a licence is an absolute necessity. We need them to get from our homes to our workplaces because we lack any kind of public transportation infrastructure. Commuting is a fact of life for many residents, and those without licences get lower-paying jobs. Renfrew is also the only local test centre that does large vehicle road tests. There is already a shortage of qualified truckers and bus drivers, among others, which puts us in a difficult situation economically. This problem will only get worse if people are not able to meet the licencing requirements of their jobs. 

Let's make sure Serco DriveTest and the Ontario government know how important it is to Renfrew County residents to have a full time DriveTest location in Renfrew, at least until the pandemic backlog eases up. Keep our Renfrew location open and fully staffed for the winter of 2021-22!