A new computer programme for dealing with photographs, and the extension of opening hours, have reduced the number of licences backed up in the overloaded IMT driving licence processing system.
The Economy Minister, Pires de Lima, today informed the Committee of Economy and Public Works that the Institute for Mobility and Transport (IMT) has cut 100,000 from the backlog of new and renewal driving licences.
In March 2014 the IMT started using the new 'Sistema de Obtenção Fiável de Imagem e Assinatura,' roughly translated as the Reliable System for Obtaining Images and Signatures, or SOFIA for short.
This technology clearly failed to produce the intended results and drivers started to experience processing delays that even for Portugal were excessive.
Despite a new computer system, operating hours had to be extended at IMT offices to help reduce the backlog which has infuriated 380,000 drivers who have been waiting for a year or more for their replacement or new licences.
The Secretary of State for Transport, Sergio Monteiro, said today that the extension of opening hours to 8pm on weekdays and opening IMT offices on Saturdays has helped reduce the backlog.
Despite this progress, Monteiro said that 'the effort is continuing,' as it should with 280,000 applications in the in-tray at around €50 per application, paid up front.
In the first official admission that something was wrong, Pires de Lima said that there had been "discomfort with the waiting times for the renewal of driving licences, especially for people who need them for their jobs.”
The possibility of anyone apologising for this shambles clearly has not crossed the imperial minds of those in charge of a service that forces customers to pay in advance and then makes them wait six to 18 months for their order.
The effort involved to start to tackle the backlog was praised by Monteiro who said that IMT workers volunteered for the extra hours and "I want to thank those who took time from their personal lives to solve this problem," yet he did not think to thank those hundreds of thousands of customers who had been forced to wait, unable to drive outside of Portugal, unable to rent a car and unable to get any answers at all as to where their licence was in the IMT vortex.
The hardest hit has been Greater Lisbon where apparently 80% of the current 280,000 licence applicants live and, according to the head of IMT, João Carvalho, "95% of these delays are due to the poor quality photographs that were delivered," a statement that few will believe, seeing his attempt at blaming the customer as just another example of the cynicism and poor service that shrouds this government department.
