If you walk into the parking lot of the DriveTest centre in Guelph, you will instantly notice a flock of out-of-town people ready for their road test.
“I would say about 80 per cent,” said Vinod Bhatia from Success Driver Training in Guelph about how many out-of-towners take their test in Guelph.
“All you see is 416, 905 signs there. They have the signs on there with the phone numbers.”
In August, the Ministry of Transportation opened a temporary DriveTest Centre on 200 Woodlawn Rd. W. to help catch up on tests missed during the lockdown.
“This has actually been an ongoing issue,” said Terry Reid from National Defensive Driver Training in Guelph.
“Many instructors in Guelph complain about the fact that people come from Toronto because it's not as busy here to take the road test,” said Reid adding that many people from the GTA come to Guelph to take what's considered an easier test because there's no 401 element to take tests here whereas there is in the GTA.
As of Thursday, the ministry reported 421,827 road tests cancelled across the province since March 2020 and Guelph has undoubtedly been helping the province play catch-up.
On Thursday, the Ministry of Transportation confirmed that since June 2021, there have been 36,285 completed G/G2 road tests in Guelph.
The Guelph DriveTest Centre completed 28,136 G/G2 road tests and since its opening in August, the Guelph Temporary location completed 8,149 G/G2 road tests.
Since June 2021, the Kitchener DriveTest Centre has completed 27,648 G/G2 road tests and the Orangeville DriveTest Centre has completed 16,654 G/G2 road tests.
In November, the temporary location in Guelph extended its days of operation from five to seven days a week. In September, temporary locations even opened in Toronto, Hamilton/Niagara, Mississauga/Brampton and York/Durham.
“The demand for tests in the Guelph area has historically been high, which is why a temporary road test centre was placed in this area and additional examiners have been deployed. Presently, Guelph accounts for a lesser percentage of the overall backlog compared to neighbouring areas,” said Lee Alderson, senior issues adviser for the Ministry of Transportation.
He said the province does not put regional-specific restrictions for booking a road test and the ministry does not track the number of people who come from other cities to complete their road test in Guelph.
“I only teach people in Guelph but based on what I see at the test centre, there's a very high predominance of people coming from outside of the Guelph area, ... tons," said Reid.
“People are driving up the Hanlon, three, four times a day, twice a day with instructors, specifically coming from Toronto, and there are dozens of them.”
In 2017 a GTA driving instructor was even caught speeding on his way to the DriveTest Centre in Guelph with his students in the car.
GTA driving instructor rushing to get his students to a driving test in Guelph. 42 km/h over speed limit. Time to get a new instructor?
— Guelph Police Traffic Services (@GuelphPSTraffic) March 28, 2017
It's clear that Guelph’s drive test numbers far outweigh those of neighbouring cities.
Guelph even has a much higher number of driver examiners to cater to address the high number of tests. There are a total of 32 driver examiners in Guelph with 15 in the DriveTest centre and 17 in the temporary location. Meanwhile, there are 14 driver examiners at the Kitchener DriveTest Centre and nine driver examiners at the Orangeville DriveTest centre.
