If the controversial GPS bill fails to get past the Senate, Government may issue more than 100 more taxi permits to bring Bermuda?s taxi service up to scratch, according to PLP activist Rolffe Commissiong.

However a Government spokesperson said that was just one card Transport Minister Ewart Brown could play in the ?unlikely? event that the Senate does not pass the Bill this time around. The Senate defeated the Bill once before, when it made its way through legislative channels in 2002. Mr. Commissiong is involved with Advanced Tech, the company owned by PLP MP George Scott which represents Mobile Knowledge, a Canadian company whose digital dispatching equipment has been approved by Government to come to Bermuda. Three other companies have also had their equipment approved: two more from Canada, and one from Australia, with offices in the US.

Mr. Commissiong contacted yesterday in reaction to a Press conference held by Bermuda Taxi Owners Association (BTOA) spokesperson Lee Tucker on Wednesday.

At the conference, Mr. Tucker said the BTOA will continue telling their side of the story as the Bill approaches the Senate next Wednesday, and said options are still being considered for what will happen should the Bill be passed.

However Mr. Commissiong said Senate president Alf Oughton, an Independent senator, had gleefully castigated those in favour of digital dispatch after the Bill was defeated by the Senate in 2002. He hoped Mr. Oughton would be ?just as reluctant? to accept the lobbying of the taxi drivers this time around.

The BTOA also said on Wednesday it had strong support from the public and that Bermuda?s taxi service is already ?superior? to others world-wide. They continued their call for third-party mediation in the dispute and maintained their stance that digital dispatch should not be mandatory as the Bill calls for. Mr. Commissiong said it had to be mandatory, however.

He said Government needs it to be mandatory so they can gather the correct data and information on the taxi industry in order to make informed decisions about that industry?s future. If only 50 or 60 cabs using digital dispatch that data would not be accurate.

He also said it did not make financial sense to bring the technology here if only 50 or 60 cabs were to sign up for it.

A Government spokesperson said all options were being examined. ?Increasing the number of taxis has always been an option that the Minister has always had available to him,? she said.