The Island Taxi Service company will tonight hold a "make or break" meeting about the future of one of Bermuda's biggest cab firms.

Owner Tafari Outerbridge said the taxi drivers would discuss the introduction of a new GPS system at the meeting, which takes place at 6 p.m. at CedarBridge Academy.

He declined to say how many drivers are a part of the company, which formed after Radio Cabs lost its licences in May for not complying with GPS legislation, or how much the GPS system would cost each driver. In July, 140 cabs were involved with the company.

Yesterday, Mr. Outerbridge said: "The meeting is about the future of the company. It is being done to save the company. I am optimistic."

An e-mail circulated to members of the company, and shared with The Royal Gazette, stated: "Basically with agreement of those who were present [at the last meeting on October 14], we decided to invest in a new system.

"For clarity let me explain how we reached this point; old equipment problems, no faith in old system, TCD mandate, unravelling red tape, saving the business."

The new systems will cost $1,800, including the installation and activation fees, and drivers will be required to pay an $800 deposit.

The GPS system has caused controversy within the taxi industry since it was first introduced. The law enforcing cabs to have the equipment was first tabled in 2004, though it did not pass the Senate. It was retabled a year later and passed in August 2005.

However, the deadline for taxis to implement the new technology was June 2010. Radio Cabs lost its operating licence to run as a taxi dispatcher at the beginning of May this year for failing to adhere to the legislation.

At the Premier's recent media roundtable he spoke about his rocky relationship with many taxi drivers when it came to the GPS system: "It was February 2001, I took a proposal to 550 taxi owners, the largest meeting of taxi owners in the history of the country and we offered them control of their own industry. I said, take this, and have something to pass on to your children after you are no longer driving taxis.

"They didn't want it, they rejected it, they got support from people who complained privately about the quality of service but would never say anything in public. And it went on and you know the history.

"But I'm happy to say that the younger drivers today value the GPS system and part of that is because they are not afraid of the computer and they are not afraid of technology."