Consideration of applications for all categories of public passenger vehicle licences was temporarily suspended after the general elections in September, and the subsequent dissolution of the Transport Authority Board.

The absence of a board meant there was no licensing review committee in place and this created a backlog in the review and approval of new licence applications. At the end of October, the number of licence applications to be reviewed stood at 612.

A new board has since been named and, at the end of last month, a commitment was given to process the outstanding applications in three weeks.

The categories of licences affected were: stage carriage, express carriage, contract carriage, hackney carriage and route taxi services.

The Transport Authority said it was again apologising for the inconvenience caused to its customers and that persons who wished to determine the status of their applications may call its toll- free line: 1-888-991-5687.

Applications being processed

Hackney carriage and route taxi - seven working days.

Contact carriage - 15 working days.

Rural stage carriage - 25 working days.