Going digital

The Islamabad Traffic Police (ITP) has launched an online appointment system for driving license-related matters. This step definitely makes it easier for the staff to manage the workload. The only caveat is the way the appointments are supposed to be booked for the next day. The system goes online at 5pm for booking and that’s the time when it becomes totally unresponsive due to the inability of the server to cope with the massive load and the inbound traffic. The system is in no way scalable and buckles under pressure.

Why do we have to give appointments for only the next day? Why can’t we have a steady stream of appointments defined in advance for up to a month? This would make it easier for everyone to make a booking in a timely manner. People wouldn’t have to keep refreshing the webpage for an hour only to find out that all slots have been booked. If the authorities allow the option of advance booking, the heavy load on the server will reduce and the website will work properly.

Shahrzad Khattak

Islamabad