Passport office upgraded at Postal Service’s Broadway branch

The passport window at the Broadway branch of the U.S. Postal Service was recently upgraded to a 1,500-square-foot office with the goal of getting rid of long lines.

The “mega-passport office,” as postal officials call it, is one of a few that have popped up in Los Angeles County and staffs five additional employees for processing applications, compared to just one worker before.

In the past, a postal worker running a retail window would have to lend a hand to the person working the passport window when lines got long, said Richard Maher, a spokesman for the postal service.

“During peak periods when the passport line got too long, a clerk would move from the retail lobby to passports, so there would be two passport acceptance clerks, but one fewer providing postal retail service,” he said. “This new system keeps the operations separate, with one operation not impacting the either.”

Each passport office employee also has their own assigned responsibilities, such as taking photos, verifying documentation or process payments to keep the process flowing, Maher said.

“We’re able to do more of an assembly-line type of processing with this additional staff,” he said.

No appointments are necessary at the new passport office, which has its own entrance on the west side of the post office.

Expedited processing is also available, and customers can have passports delivered via Priority Mail Express for an additional fee.

Hours are from 8 a.m. to 4 p.m. on Mondays, Tuesdays, Wednesdays and Fridays and 7 a.m. to 3 p.m. on Saturdays.

The U.S. Postal Service processes about 13 million passport applications every year, according to postal officials.