MPI says that they are finding drivers taking their tests this month are passing at a slightly higher rate than normal.

Manitobans are getting back behind the while to test for their licenses for the first time since the pandemic closed MPI's facilities.

"People are anxious to get their licenses and we anticipated a very heavy load of people wishing to book their road tests," MPI's media relations co-ordinator Brian Smiley says.

As many as 4300 customers had their driving tests put on pause during MPI's facility closures during the pandemic, after reaching out, MPI says that only half of those who were previously scheduled are committing to new dates.

"Our staff made all attempts to contact as many (people) as we could. We found that we were able to contact roughly 50-55 per cent of those 4300; we booked some of them but some of them did not want to go back for retesting."

Since the beginning of the month, MPI has seen many drivers take their tests, noticing a slight increase in the pass rate, now at 45 per cent compared to previous rates that hover close to 40 per cent.

Smiley adds that staff have called and reached out, but many drivers have not returned their calls. Smiley suspects that concerns over COVID-19 is a main cause for people who wish to not take their test.

The high cancellation rate is making room for new tests to be scheduled. In order to contain the demand, Smiley says that MPI is limiting testing to be booked once a week.

"We are going through a very unusual time... this is not how we typically operate." 

On Wednesday morning at 9:00 a.m. testing opens for the hopeful drivers. Smiley says the Wednesday rush books as many as 1000 appointments for customers before maxing out on test availability.

"Appointment slots are made available every Wednesday morning," Smiley says. "When all available appointments are filled, new appointments will not be made until the next Wednesday."

Smiley says the booking process is very different from how it was pre-pandemic. MPI is asking for patience as drivers rush to book their tests.