Angry cab drivers are set to have an emergency meeting and claim that Government has put promised fare rises on the back burner.

But Transport Minister Ewart Brown has urged patience and said Government was still looking at the figures.

Increased charges would have to be linked to improved service, he said. Taxi fare rates have not been raised since 1997. A rise was agreed in principle by the taxi working group, which included Government, cab drivers and owners but there was no timetable set for the hike. Bermuda Taxi Owners Association spokesman Lee Tucker said: ?We should have had an increase in rates but he has put that on the back burner. We negotiated in good faith.

?We thought we were making headway. Now we are back to square one. We didn?t come into the working group with the idea of putting the idea on the back burner. We are very, very annoyed and upset.?

Dr. Brown said Government had conceded it had been a while since the last increase.

And he admitted Government had agreed to the principle of a rise and was now assessing the figure wanted by drivers. ?It isn?t a totally unreasonable request, we have to work with it,? he said. ?We are on board with the concept that cabbies deserve an increase. I reminded them the public deserved service.?

One possibility would be to award some of the increase soon and then give the rest pending an increase in performance, said Dr. Brown.

Asked what factors would be taken into account, he said an example would be if a whole month went by without complaints about taxis not being available. Mr. Tucker said he was angry that the rise would be tied to performance. ?If that is the case many politicians shouldn?t be paid at all, they should pay the public.?

In the past six weeks there have been three fuel increases, said Mr. Tucker, and linking performance to fare rises can be a chicken and egg situation.

He explained that cab drivers were reluctant to drive up and down looking for fares because of fuel prices. That meant performance went down.

It was unfair to only ask taxi drivers to increase their performance, said Mr. Tucker.

He said it was a ruse by Dr. Brown to bring in his pet project of a Global Positioning System for operators. ?There is no guarantee this will improve service. People working are still human beings not robots. You cannot programme us. We have to work together if we are going to do business.?

Mr. Tucker said Government was holding a stick over one group in the tourist sector while visitors were angry at other services. Tourists complained about $125-a-plate meals which were no better than meals at a third of the price, he said. ?This is the type of thing people say to us out here.?

He said increases in tourist numbers of up to 20 percent were being predicted this summer but warned: ?If you victimise us no one will come on board.?

Mr. Tucker said he hoped to meet with the Transport Department soon and he was going to call an urgent meeting with drivers, likely early next week, to explain what is happening with the rate increase.

Monday, Dr. Brown claimed the lack of taxi drivers at his press conference announcing changes in the taxi industry signified they were all busy.

But Mr. Tucker said he didn?t know about the meeting. ?As far as I know my colleagues didn?t know.?

However, he said he wouldn?t have been happy to have been there only to hear fare rises were being stalled. ?We were promised by the director and others that rate rises would be the first thing to be discussed. Now they have the compromise, they are not going to give the rate increase.?

But Dr. Brown said: ?They don?t know nothing is going to come. They are so pessimistic, it?s disgusting. We expect Mr. Tucker to continue to work with us. He?s a delightful gentleman.?

Cab drivers are also unhappy about the plan to remove the four-cab limit on ownership to allow fleet ownership.

?If you own 50 cabs and you can only get 30 drivers what are the others for?? asked Mr. Tucker.