It is almost a New Jersey rite of passage – waiting in long lines at the Motor Vehicle Commission.

This week the lines were particularly long since the offices reopened after being closed for months because of the pandemic.

Sebastian Birse, 17, was the last person on a line of hundreds at the location in Edison on Wednesday. Birse was trying to get a driver’s license that he needed for his summer landscaping job.

Birse says that the line was very long when he showed up at 11 a.m.

The people who were being served when Birse showed up had shown up themselves at 3 a.m. – five hours after the line actually started to form.

While people were frustrated by the long wait, the mood was generally pleasant – at least until temperatures started to get warmer. But customers were praising the employees working in the facilities.

“People have been great here, especially Bonnie the manager. She has been wonderful,” said one customer.

Al Campos and his girlfriend Christa Fennell bought a case of water bottles and handed them out to the people waiting.

As the hours passed by, the people at the front of the line became grizzled veterans. Many of them had come to the location the day before, but did not get inside.

Gabriella Martemucci came to the MVC at 7:30 a.m. on Tuesday, but got turned away. She and her mom came back at 3:30 a.m. Wednesday and were finally served shortly before noon.

“Stressful, and I hopefully will never be back here for a while. But definitely worth it,” Martemucci says.

But back at the end of the line, poor Birse was told that he would not be able to get his license on Wednesday because the line was too long. He said that his mother dropped him off and went to work and so he had to find a ride home – because he still does not have a driver’s license.