July 2,2004.

Dear Sir,

For the past week or so a vast number of people, both visitors and locals alike, have been grossly inconvenienced by the belligerent withdrawal of services by the majority of Bermuda's taxi operators. I have been one of them.

We have all heard multiple lines of justification advanced in an attempt to legitimise this protest, and I have listened to these arguments with interest and concern. However, I must regretfully declare that I have not been persuaded that any of the objections to the Global Positioning System can withstand careful scrutiny.

First and foremost, and please forgive me if I insult any sensitivities, but let us not forget that this entire fiasco is the culmination of a train of events which were set into motion when two young girls called for a taxi in St.George's late one evening and that taxi never came. The aftermath of that failure to respond was tragic and disturbing, but it was the catalyst for a barrage of criticism aimed at several different entities, one of which was the taxi industry. The potentially irreparable effects of a poorly scrutinised and woefully inadequate service were further highlighted when a taxi driver decided that a few possible food stains were too much to bear, and he ejected a woman from his taxi at some ungodly hour in the morning. That woman was later brutally raped by an opportunistic assailant. These incidents brought home to one segment of the public what was already common knowledge amongst another ? that the level of service given by Bermuda's taxi industry was unacceptably low.

In any civilised, developed society there will always be people who must of necessity be able to move from one place to another, but for whom the resources to do so are not personally possessed. If these individuals were unable to avail themselves of some form of commonly available mode of transportation their lives, and the lives of those who depend upon them to be where they need to be, will be palpably and negatively affected. That is why the concept and reality of a "public service vehicle" is so important.

The services provided by these vehicles fuels the pulse of life in Bermuda. It is essential that the public can readily access these services, and that the service providers recognise the nature of their obligation. In keeping with this need it has long been the case that every vehicle conferred with the status of 'public service vehicle' and authorised to collect fares from the public must be available for use at least 16 hours per day. This requirement is designed to ensure availability. Yet, in the absence of an effective way to monitor this availability, the 16-hour requirement can be, and has been, flouted with impunity by those whose primary employment is other than taxi driving, and who are too cheap or distrustful to hire another driver to operate their taxi.

It seems to me that the 16-hour time limit is what the taxi operators should be opposing ? not the means to enforce it. In these circumstances, the opposition of the taxi operators to the imposition of GPS is no different than if a rabid cocaine user were to vigorously oppose the implementation of drug sniffing dogs.

This GPS system will ensure availability, and I think that we can all agree that availability has been an issue for some time now. We the Bermudian public can never seem to find a taxi when we need one. Some of us are still waiting for taxis which never came ? especially that young girl in St. George's who is still waiting for her taxi.

CHARLES RICHARDSON

Smith's Parish

July 11, 2004

Dear Sir,

I have read and heard many comments from people who think that it is an individual's right to gamble if they so choose. They also seem to believe that as an adult if you choose to gamble and lose your money and home than that is your business as well.

Well I'd like to know whose business it becomes when those that have lost it all due to gambling have to go on Social Assistance and use my taxpayer dollars to live. I hope .... but chances are they'll be still be gambling.

SAY NO TO SLOTS

Warwick