The president of the Island?s largest taxi dispatching firm has admitted that more than half his company?s drivers are still not using a new mandatory satellite navigation system.

Michael Ray, president and a shareholder in BTA (Dispatching), revealed in an extensive interview with that although 400 cabbies have opted to have the GPS equipment installed by his company, as many as 250 don?t ever turn it on.

Mr. Ray, also president of Bermuda Taxi Association, said those cabbies have no contact at all with the base operation - despite paying for a service which would send them to jobs as soon as they arose.

He said: ?We don?t have radio so they have no communication with our company. Even though we offer it and they pay for it we have a large percentage not using it.?

The revelation comes a week after the deadline for cabbies to get the high-tech tracking equipment installed in their vehicles passed.

Those who have failed to comply with the Motor Car Amendment Act 2005 are being targeted by traffic officers from the Transport Control Department (TCD) and dealt with by the Public Service Vehicle Licensing Board.

But it remained unclear last night whether those who have had the system installed but are not switching it on are breaking the law.

TCD Director Randy Brangman said at the start of last week that the new legislation stated that no person should operate a taxi unless they were registered with a dispatching company and had a properly equipped vehicle.

The drivers at BTA (Dispatching) not using GPS would appear, therefore, to be obeying the letter of the law, meaning Government may not be able to penalise them.

Mr. Ray said: ?Our system has been on since February 6. But do the drivers have it turned on? I?d say between 200 and 250 of our drivers don?t.

?They are picking up at the hotel yards and the cruise ship ports. But between that there could be work all around you but because you don?t have the system on, you don?t know about it.

?Our appeal to them is that it?s hurting the industry. Our appeal to our subscribers is that they turn it on and use it.?

Mr. Ray, who steps down as chairman of the Taxi Association next month, said the cabbies not using the system were putting a strain on their colleagues who did it have it turned on.

And he said the non-compliance was ultimately giving the Government fuel to continue bringing in alternative means of transport, such as luxury limousines and minibuses.

Mr. Ray said that so long as there continued to be a shortage of taxis at the airport at key times, for example, the Ministry of Tourism and Transport would keep trying to find other means of transporting passengers.

?We have to protect the transportation industry,? he said.

Mandatory GPS for the Island?s 600 taxis was the brainchild of Deputy Premier Ewart Brown and became law on February 6. Cash-strapped cabbies were given an extra six months to get it installed.

The Public Service Vehicle Licensing Board held a special meeting on Thursday to decide the fate of taxi drivers without GPS installed in their cabs who were caught picking up fares by TCD officers last week.

The outcome of the meeting has not been made public and has been unable to contact anyone from the board for comment. Neither Dr. Brown nor Mr. Brangman could be reached last night.