Government ID, Smart Cards, Identification and Authentication

EDLs not too popular in New York

Thursday, September 17, 2009

New York Department of Motor Vehicle officials were expecting to issue more than 1.5 million enhanced driver licenses, but so far only 200,000 have been issued, according to the Star Gazette. EDLs are used in place if passports for crossing the U.S. or Canadian land borders.

The state had initially expected $66.4 million in annual revenue from the program but has lowered that to $3.7 million this fiscal year. The travel documents have been popular in counties near Canada but have failed to catch elsewhere.

DMV Commissioner David Swarts blamed the poor performance on the slow economy and the start of the program last fall, after the main travel season ended.

Read the full story here. [end] 

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