Mr. Eschbach, how did it come about that the Ludwigsburg District Office had so many different opening hours?
The Ludwigsburg District Office has a large number of departments offering different services. In the past, this resulted in very different opening hours in individual areas. This was unsatisfactory for our citizens, which is why the opening hours are now being largely standardized. However, there will also be different opening hours in the future, for example in specialist areas with a high demand for advice or a high volume of applications, such as vehicle registration or driving licenses. Of course, the specialist departments will still be able to make additional individual appointments with citizens.
Our aim is to constantly optimize the citizen-friendliness of the administration. That is why we are now creating more clarity in our opening hours.
From September 1, 2023, standardized opening hours will apply to almost all departments. What does that mean in concrete terms?
From Monday to Friday, the district administration will be open from 8:30 am to 12 noon; it will also be open on Monday afternoons from 1:30 pm to 3:30 pm and on Thursday afternoons from 1:30 pm to 6 pm.
These general opening hours now also apply to the branch office in Vaihingen, the areas of waste fees, trade supervision, forestry, agriculture with the nutrition center, animal breeding in Stuttgart as well as the areas of roads, health and consumer protection, the Ludwigsburg social psychiatric service, the Ludwigsburg and Vaihingen district media centers, the Ludwigsburg Schiller Adult Education Center (from semester 24A) and surveying.
Where and why are there still exceptions to these opening hours?
We continue to have special opening hours in the areas of vehicle registration and driving licenses, asylum, the foreigners authority and citizenship system, the job center, AVL, road maintenance services, BAföG and housing benefit. This is necessary due to the special requirements for the completion of tasks - for example, if longer consultation appointments are required.
For efficient planning, the length of appointments can be adapted to the respective reason for the consultation. This means that long waiting times for citizens can be avoided. As already mentioned, it is of course also possible to arrange specific appointments outside of general opening hours.
