The seemingly never-ending dispute between Government and the taxi industry has blown up again with 200 or more cab operators now facing the spectre of being forced off the road at the end of the month. The reason? Apparently, their vehicles are not being relicensed if they cannot show that they are using the mandatory GPS dispatching system.

This newspaper has already commented on the irony that taxi drivers' ability to work is being threatened because they don't have GPS at the same time that emergency vehicles are not required to have it at all.

But that does not tackle the central issue of whether the industry should have GPS, and if so, what kind of penalties should be administered for non-compliance. Few would deny that the taxi industry should have an effective and efficient means of dispatching. This is not just a question of ease; Bermuda's economy depends on the taxi industry working well and efficiently.

In the past, this has not always been the case. Over the years, this newspaper has received periodic complaints from residents and visitors telling how they are unable to get taxis at the airport or from hotels, restaurants and even from Hamilton.

When visitors complain, the Island runs the risk of never getting them back. The economic cost of that is larger than it may seem. GPS was supposed to solve that problem. The theory was that it would ensure that taxis were working the hours they were supposed to be on the road and that it would be possible to direct the nearest taxi to a waiting passenger.

And the exactitude of the system was supposed to be such that drivers would be directed to the precise address, thus saving time as the driver would no longer have to drive around looking for "a pink house with green trim". Anecdotal evidence suggests that that is not always the case. GPS has not been as exact as it was supposed to be, and enforcement does not appear to be taking place. Nor has it cut down on "poaching". Drivers still arrive at their destination only to find that another cab has swooped in and taken their fare.

And government has either not been able to show that GPS has improved the efficiency of the service or has chosen not to make that information available. At the same time, it seems that some of the dispatching services have dragged their feet in installing and maintaining their services.

And some drivers simply switch it off, out of either technophobia or frustration. Some of the blame for this can certainly be laid at the feet of the services and some drivers. But it also seems clear that the service, which is not cheap, has not delivered as promised. If it had, drivers would surely have acted in their own self-interest and adopted it wholesale.

Still, it is the law that drivers are supposed to operate GPS. But the actions of TCD and the Transport Ministry in simply refusing to renew vehicle licences is draconian and threatens the livelihoods of owners, drivers and their families. It may be that Government is hoping that such an action will encourage the taxi owners to force the dispatchers to make sure the systems are working. This does not seem to be the case.

Instead, the taxi owners are turning their anger on Government and will take the matter to court, thus dragging out this issue potentially for months. In the absence of evidence that GPS has improved service, it is hard to see how Government can reasonably force drivers out of work. One would have thought that fines and orders to install the system would have been implemented first with licence forfeiture a last resort.

And where it is the dispatching service that is at fault, then one would have thought that it is their licenses that should be revoked, not the taxi operators. At least then the operators have the option of moving to a different service.

Instead, as Bermuda faces a recession that is likely to be severe and a difficult tourism year, we see Government putting hard working people on the pavement. That can't be right.