Anyone looking to book an appointment at a local Bureau of Motor Vehicles office to avoid long in-person lines will likely have to wait months to get in.

As of this week, most of the 13 offices scattered across the state don’t have any appointments available until late October.

Secretary of State Shenna Bellows said people who want to book an appointment and avoid waiting in line will need to plan ahead, since appointments have become increasingly popular as people secure new Real ID driver’s licenses.

“Just like at the doctor’s office or the hairdresser, it’s important to plan (ahead) and book appointments in advance because appointments are incredibly popular,” Bellows said. “At the same time … we’ve preserved the walk-in option, so anyone can show up on any day.”

The state first began offering appointments for things like license renewals back in 2022, allowing people to book an appointment within 20 days. The system was initially in response to COVID-era restrictions on the number of people who could be in a public space at the same time.

The service has become more popular since the federal government finally began mandating that people have Real ID compliant identification for domestic air travel. Now the state has extended the window for appointments to 90 days.

But still, appointments, which ebb and flow in real time as they are booked and canceled, continue to fill up fast.

As of Wednesday morning, 12 of the 13 BMV offices across the state did not have any appointment slots for driver’s licenses available until October.

The highest demand was in Springvale in York County, which had no appointments available, followed by Scarborough, where the earliest appointment was Oct. 28.

Calais was the only office with openings before the fall. The earliest appointment available at the eastern Washington County office was Aug. 18. But within minutes, that option was gone, with the next available appointment being Sept. 25.

As the use of appointments has increased, average wait times for those without appointments has fallen, according to the secretary of state’s office, although it’s still more than an hour.

As of this week, the average wait time across the state was 74 minutes, down from 94 minutes in the first week of April. The average service time is about 10 minutes.

The surge in interest is tied to the federal government beginning to enforce a requirement that people have Real ID-compliant identification for domestic commercial air travel and to access certain federal buildings. Real IDs, which were devised in response to the 9/11 terrorist attacks, require a higher level of verification than standard licenses, including citizenship and lawful status. Real IDs also require a digital photo that can be used with facial recognition software.

The Real ID requirement was originally supposed to take effect in 2020, but concerns by privacy advocates delayed it several times.

The state has issued more than 89,430 Real IDs from January through July 1. And Bellows said 32% of state IDs are now Real ID compliant — up from 27% in April.

A spokesperson for the Portland International Jetport said about 95% of passengers are now meeting Real ID requirements and the Transportation Security Administration is “more than able” to handle the additional security screening required for people traveling without a compliant form of identification. Those who don’t have a Real ID can still use a passport.

Bellows said the appointment system that was rolled out to address pandemic-era limits on the number of people who could be inside a BMV branch has allowed the state to better manage the current surge in demand.

“I’m so thankful we have appointments, because when the federal government set the new Real ID deadline, we saw unprecedented customer traffic to the branches,” Bellows said. “Appointments have been a way of moving out that traffic and reducing the burden on our customer service reps and also creating some predictability.”

Appointments can only be made within a 90-day window, which Bellows said reduces the number of people who book an appointment but don’t show up. Currently, about 1 in 5 people who make an appointment don’t show.

Bellows said a no-show simply means that people without an appointment will be served sooner.

“We work appointments into the regular traffic at the BMV,” she said. “If someone is a no-show for their appointment, that’s a gift to the folks that are walk-ins.”