The Texas Department of Public Safety will fill 100 new positions over the next few months to bolster staffing at some of the high-volume driver license "mega centers" across the state.

This week additional DPS employees, including state troopers, were stationed at the high-volume centers in an effort to pick out customers who can get out of line to take care of their business online, by phone or by mail.

The announcement came days after a Dallas Morning News story about customers at the Carrollton center who reported waiting up to eight hours to complete a simple license renewal or apply for a driving permit.

Some of those hours, angry drivers say, are spent lined up outside in the 100-degree heat before they can get a seat inside the air-conditioned building.

Cher Jacobs, who originally complained of an "insane" 8-hour wait at the Carrollton center, said she was "cautiously optimistic" about the new hires.

"They are still misrepresenting how hard it is to get your driver's license renewed," said Jacobs, 66. "It's a great idea, but they are not manning [the centers] well enough."

The long waits at mega centers are a side effect of a summer-long initiative that diverts customers from smaller DPS facilities in Denton, Plano and Rockwall. Those offices are among six statewide that began limiting their services and funneling drivers to the larger facilities.

The DPS initiative was designed to ease wait times and keep people out of the heat by encouraging customers to visit mega centers or use the agency's online portal. According to DPS, more than 3.6 million people who visited its offices in 2017 didn't need to do so.

After the first two weeks of the program, which began July 9, the number of customers processed in those six offices decreased by 44 percent, the agency said.

The program will be expanded Aug. 27 to help out more high-volume offices, where service demands create overcrowding and safety concerns. DPS said the effort could be further expanded if needed.

Noah Coulon, another customer in Carrollton, said that in his experience, staffing wasn't the problem. It was the technology.

Coulon, 87, said it took 25 minutes once he and his granddaughter were seen, but it could have taken five minutes if the computer hadn't taken minutes to respond.

"We're not talking rocket science here," he said. "They need to think about what can be done differently to increase productivity with the people they already have."

DPS suggests that in order to cut down on wait times at the mega centers, customers should save a place in line by logging into an online queuing system. However, the online submission must be completed the morning of your visit, and some said the spots often fill up before they get a chance to log on.

Customers can schedule driving tests online up to the three months in advance, and they can renew driver's license or identification cards up to two years in advance.

Those who don't wish to use the phone or online system will be given a paper form to allow them to mail in their request. DPS will make an office phone available for those who don't have access to one.

The longest waits at mega centers across the state tend to be on Mondays and Fridays, according to DPS, and the high-volume summer months don't make it any better.

Larry Foster, another Dallas County driver, said adding new employees won't matter if they have the same attitude toward the work.

"They are putting the cart before the horse," Foster, 78, said. "The people there could care less. They need so much help, it's mind boggling."