Taxi drivers are being asked to park their cars tomorrow and take the day off in protest at Government's plans to proceed with the controversial Global Positioning Systems (GPS) system.

"It's time for us to take a stand," Bermuda Taxi Operators Association spokesman Lee Tucker said yesterday.

"At this stage we have decided the only alternative is to withdraw our services as of Friday 8 a.m.. We are very frustrated. We have tried our best to work with the Minister."

Meanwhile Transport Minister Dr. Ewart Brown said he was "sorry" the decision had been made and that his Ministry will make alternative transportation arrangements for residents and tourists.

"No other issue in the Ministry of Transport has been so widely discussed," he told The Royal Gazette.

"But I do believe that there are people who believe that if they don't get their way then they have not been consulted."

The Association's committee made a unanimous decision to make the call not to work on Friday, Mr. Tucker said, adding that it was hoped that more than 90 percent of the Island's 500 taxi owners would support it.

Parliamentarians on both sides of the House are sympathetic to the concerns of the taxi operators, according to Mr. Tucker.

A bill which would require taxi operators to install high tech equipment for the use of GPS technology was tabled in the House last week and is on the order sheet for tomorrow's sitting of the House of Assembly.

"There is no guarantee as to what the extent of the support (for the Association) is going to be. But we recognise that they are intelligent people and if they don't give us support there's going to be chaos," Mr. Tucker said.

Dispatching companies will also be required to install the technology.

The Association complains that the bill was dropped on them in the midst of talks with Government and before they could get back with proposed options to GPS.

Dr. Brown noted yesterday that Government had compromised by allowing a year before any action is taken for non-compliance with the legislation.

"Some people did come back (for talks)" he said. "They left with the impression that, while they didn't agree 100 percent, they could see where it would modernise the industry. There is a group of operators who have been opposed to this initiative from its very inception. I don't think any discussion could have changed their minds."

He said he would rather not get into the details when asked what studies had been done to show the system would be beneficial.

"I would rather say they must lead their way. Their job is to build a taxi industry. My job is to see to it that Bermudians and visitors are transported in a reasonable and efficient fashion."

But taxi drivers have questioned whether the technology will help improve service or whether it will merely add costs to the drivers which will then be passed on to the passenger and hamper efforts to resurrect the tourism sector.

"I would like to hear what the Tourism Minister has to say about it," Mr. Tucker said.

And the Association fears that dispatchers unable to absorb the cost of installing the system will be forced to go out of business and a dispatch monopoly will be created.

According to Mr. Tucker the system will add over $2,000 a year to the costs of operating a taxi - in addition to about $2,000 to install the system. And he provided figures which showed that costs increases have outstripped the earning power of drivers over the years.

"There have been no increase (in metre rates) for the past six to seven years, how many other folks have gone without an increase ?"

Dispatchers stand to earn more than $1 million selling the equipment to the drivers and close to $2 million annually in fees, according to the Association.

He also showed figures showing that the average taxi driver works 3,600 hours a year compared to just 1,800 hours for the average Bermudian worker.

"We are always working on a shoestring," Mr. Tucker said.

"We can't absorb the losses ourselves. It will have to be absorbed by the passenger."

He said, given the tourism downturn, Dr. Brown had picked the wrong time to begin implementing the new system.

Business had been especially poor since September 11 last year, Mr. Tucker added. "Many taxi operators have found themselves behind the eight ball." Some are on the verge of bankruptcy, he said. "If it means they have to take out an additional loan to put this system into effect, it will put them further behind the eight ball."

He said the industry would have had no objections if GPS had been made optional.

But the Minister was behaving like a "bull in a china shop", he said. "He went full speed ahead without any regard for the person who has served for years, who has built the (hospitality) industry."

Dr. Brown said that the taxi industry already benefits from tax concessions, and drivers should organise properly in order to negotiate more relief.

Taxis enjoy the lowest import duty and registration fees when compared to other vehicles, he said.

"I have promised them that after this legislation is in place that the Ministry will review the fare rates and I'll keep that promise."

He said he hoped dispatchers won't be driven out of business, but said some were going out of business already.

"If some of them come together and work together they will survive and do well," he said.

The Minister said he is sympathetic to the economic difficulties faced by the industry. "Economically, it's pretty tough for a number of businesses in Bermuda. In most instances modernisation can be used to reduce the negative impact. A computerised dispatch system improves efficiency to the extent that operators take advantage of it."