Obtaining a driving license in the province of Barcelona can be an exercise not suitable for the impatient. Depending on the driving school, the waiting time to take the practical test can be up to two or three months. Given this delay, many people who want the permit choose to take the exam in cities like Cuenca or Albacete, which have become popular for offering intensive courses on the theoretical part and the practical part in two weeks. The assignment of exams for each driving school is done by the DGT. Every eight days, places for exams are distributed proportionally according to the capacity of the driving school. The small ones have a smaller number than the larger ones, which can present more students.
For driving schools in Barcelona, matching driving practices with students has become an ordeal and they find themselves with more students who have to take the exam than the exam places offered by the DGT. “There is not enough staff to examine the students for the practical exam,” explains Alejandro Requena, member of the FAB, Federation of Driving Schools of Barcelona. Currently, there are only 93 examiners available across the province and in January 2024, 560.3 tests were performed per day, about six per examiner. “They told me that I had to wait a month and a half between the theoretical exam and the start of the internship,” says Bruno Zarraluqui, a young man from Barcelona who is getting his driving license. The driving school has assured him of having a place when he finishes the internship. "The teacher will reserve the date for the test two weeks in advance and that way I will be able to take the exam without having to wait. I have been lucky because I have friends who have been waiting longer than me and have not yet started with the practices," explains Bruno.
The ineffectiveness of the administration in solving this problem has caused many students to go to other areas of Spain, where the waiting time is shorter, but involves paying for accommodation and food. One of the most popular destinations is Cuenca, which has five driving schools and the courses they offer are intensive.
Two years ago, Clara Clemente, a young woman from Barcelona, decided to take advantage of having family in Landete, in the province of Cuenca, to take the driver's license exam. “If she had to wait here, why not go there and do it faster?” she asked herself. Cuenca has become an attraction for many. "Every week new students arrive and 98% are from other regions of Spain who complain about the waiting time in their places of residence to get their license," says Rafael Lozano, President of the Provincial Association of Driving Schools of Cuenca and director of the San Cristóbal Driving School.
This center has been a pioneer in the intensive methodology for 25 years. In two or three weeks, they prepare the student for the theoretical and practical exam and to take both tests. “Our intensive method aims to benefit the student,” explains Lozano. Over the years, many driving schools in the area have adopted this same way of training, however, not all students see it as something positive. “I did five practices a day and at the end I lost concentration. If I had to recommend the Cuenca option to someone, I would tell them to take it slower and do only two or three practices a day because they would end up exhausted,” Clara argues.
The pandemic paralyzed the evaluation and generated more retentions to be examined. “In Cuenca there has been an increase in students since then and especially those who come from outside,” says Lozano. Furthermore, she denies the claim that it is easier to pass in Cuenca. “Here there is no traffic like Madrid or Barcelona, it is logical. During preparation, the student drives throughout the city, which helps them get to know the exam area. The test is the same and very complete because it gives the option to circulate on three types of roads: urban, interurban and highway,” Lozano argues. For her part, Clara does not remember that the exam was difficult and she highlights that traffic in Cuenca is characterized "by the high presence of driving school cars."
In Barcelona, the intensive course of theory and 30 practices costs around 1,200 euros, with exam fees included. While in Cuenca, the theoretical course, exam fees and 20 practices amount to about 1,100 euros. Even so, in Cuenca accommodation in the city must be added to the amount, a service that the same driving schools offer to their students from outside and that they offer at a lower price, and that ranges between 27 and 40 euros per night because in Some rates also include meals.
The economic crisis was the trigger for the situation in Barcelona. “In 2008, the DGT reduced staff and many officials retired. Their positions have not been replaced since then, and with the pandemic the list became much longer,” argues Requena. In June 2023, the DGT offered 60 new competitive positions to be a traffic examiner in Spain, of which five were destined for Barcelona. “The open places are insufficient, at least 150 are needed,” considers Fernando Lara, vice president of ANAES, National Association of Driving Schools of Spain. Furthermore, Lara adds that “the differences in housing prices in Spain also represent an inconvenience for examiners. Paying the price of rent for apartments in Madrid, Barcelona or the Basque Country does not invite you to go to work there, they are exorbitant figures.”
While the number of people to be examined increases in Barcelona, the FAB and the Provincial Headquarters work together to put an end to this problem. "We are tired of the administration's patchwork solutions," explains Alejandro Requena. For now, if nothing changes, Cuenca is established as an alternative to take the driver's license exam, for those who need it quickly.
