Minnesota’s Driver and Vehicle Services (DVS) is borrowing a page from the Minnesota Department of Transportation’s playbook by holding a contest asking callers to pick the music they want to hear when placed on hold.
Through the end of March, customers can call 469-397-3737 to listen to the four options on the ballot, then hop on the agency’s website and cast a vote.
The choices are a jazzy version of “My Time to Fly,” two pop melodies, “This and That is Life,” and “Throw Yourself in Front of It” and a rock tune called ““Everywhere the Sun Shines.”
“Majority rules,” said DVS spokesman Mark Karstedt. “The winning song will play.”
MnDOT has had success with its Name a Snowplow contest in which thousands of Minnesotans and others who drive in the state have picked winter-themed names to go on plows. DVS is hoping customers will enjoy being on hold, as material promoting the contest ticks off the instructions.
“We know most customers don’t think of DVS as a fun place to visit,” said Director Pong Xiong. “But when we can, we try to bring a bit of fun into the customer experience.”
Fun aside, the contest is part of a bigger DVS project to upgrade its phone system to make it easier and pleasanter to contact the agency that handles all things related to motor vehicles.
DVS now has 21 different phone numbers for customers to call, depending on their needs. There is one number to inquire about disability license plates and parking certificates and another for questions regarding registering vehicles or transferring titles. Driver’s license seekers setting up a written exam have to call one phone number and a different number to schedule a road test.
By May, the agency will have one phone number for everything, with all calls answered at the DVS call center in St. Paul.
“The hope is to reduce confusion for customers and make it a bit easier to know who to call,” Karstedt said.
Callers can opt for an automated system to get questions answered or may speak with one of 39 full-time or two part-time operators. Last year, they answered more than 1.2 million calls, or about 123 calls per operator each day, DVS said.
With more callers than operators, customers inevitably are placed on hold. During the last week of February, the average wait time was 10 minutes, according to DVS data. DVS thought those on hold should decide what they want to listen to, which prompted the contest, Karstedt said.
For those who don’t want to wait, there will be one more significant change when the new phone system begins, Karstedt said.
“Instead of waiting five to 50 minutes, they can ask the system to call them back,” he said.
State Rep. Erin Koegel, D-Spring Lake Park, has introduced a bill that would designate Hwy. 610 as the “Hortman Memorial Highway.”
The bill memorializes Speaker Emerita Melissa Hortman, her husband, Mark, and their dog Gilbert, who were fatally shot June 14, 2025, in their Brooklyn Park home.
“Melissa was murdered, assassinated because of her service to the state,” Koegel said during a House Transportation Finance and Policy Committee meeting March 2. “She will stand as one of the most influential politicians in Minnesota history. I don’t’ want anybody in the state of Minnesota to forget Melissa Hortman.”
The bill is currently in committee.
Highway 610 runs about 11 miles from Interstate 94 in Maple Grove, through Brooklyn Park and ends in Coon Rapids.
©2026 The Minnesota Star Tribune. Visit startribune.com. Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC