November 26, 2001

Dear Sir,

Allow me the space to inform the Transport Minister Dr. Ewart Brown, the group that formed the Central Dispatch and GPS, and the committee of the (BDA) Road Safety Council, why we in the Taxi Industry (95 percent of drivers and owners) do not want the system.

It is said while driving and talking on a cellular phone is a distraction and danger to the driver and others on the road.

Surely the screen (GPS) that you have to take your eyes off the road to look at and read a text message and then key back in a reply, is got to be a bigger distraction and danger and prevents concentration.

I guess they expect you to pull over to the side of the road every time. Could you imagine doing this at rush hour, the road rage this would encourage and the accidents this will cause?

We also find this to be added expense each month, that is not going to bring us anymore work.

More people are getting their own transportation, tourism continues to drop and this system will also take away passenger privacy, the people monitoring will know where you are picked up where you stop along the way and where your final stop is. (Something for the people who prefer their movements to be kept a secret to think about.)

I have said it before but it seems to fall on deaf ears - we need to make radios mandatory and the dispatch companies work more closely together. This would really help to improve the industry a lot.

Owners and drivers, this is our business. We the majority know what is right from what is wrong for the future of our industry, let's not let greedy people whose alternative motives is to line their own pockets push what is wrong on us but let us stand together for what is right, so that:

1. The customer gets a faster and more efficient service, and;

2. We as owners and operators can also benefit.

I would like for the exempt companies, the hotels and the locals who have for years enjoyed and still continue to enjoy the professional dependable and courteous service they receive from the Taxi Operators to speak out on our behalf.

KIMMIE MELLO

St. David's