LANSING (AP) — Michigan Secretary of State Jocelyn Benson said Thursday people who book an appointment will get in and out of branch offices within half an hour, but that guarantee does not apply to those who show up without one.

Benson, who campaigned on a 30-minute promise amid complaints over long lines, said she has achieved it because residents can now go online or call to make an appointment at all 131 branches — a threefold increase — even though average wait times have increased since she took office in January. Walking into a branch and waiting in line is a “failed” and “antiquated” model of doing business, she said, and one that people can avoid by renewing vehicle registrations and driver’s licenses online or — when in-person service is necessary — booking appointments.

“In our view, the 30-minute guarantee is available to every resident in the state, and that’s what I campaigned on. It’s available through appointments,” Benson, a Democrat, said at a news conference in which she spoke about her department’s efforts to address customer service challenges. She said there are long waits for people who have no appointment and “I do not think for a second that our work is done. In fact, we’re just beginning.”

An estimated half of all people visiting branch offices “didn’t have to come into our branch office at all and could utilize one of our self-service options,” she said. The state, she said, will offer same-day appointments in the first few months of 2020 and simplify confusing, cluttered registration renewal mailings.

“These renewal mailers as they are today were not effectively communicating to our residents all the options they have to achieve whatever it is that they need to achieve with our office,” Benson said.

Additional self-service stations will be installed, she said, and the department’s website will be updated to make it easier for customers to do tasks such as renewing their license plates.