The state Department of Motor Vehicles will significantly curtail its office hours and the local availability of key services, starting Friday -- and the changes will remain in effect whether or not state employee unions vote this month to ratify a concessions deal that would avert 3,000 layoffs, the DMV said Wednesday.
The changes will require customers to drive longer distances for certain services, particularly those living in the New Haven and Danbury areas.
Beginning Friday, the department will change operating hours at its 10 full-service branch offices and shift some services -- such as road and knowledge tests for drivers' licenses -- to four centralized locations as part of what it called "streamlining, cost-cutting and efficiency efforts in the agency."
Those four branches for the regionalized services will be Bridgeport, Waterbury, Wethersfield and Willimantic.
"These changes will go into effect regardless of whether state employees ratify the agreement," DMV spokesman William Seymour said.