Local taxi operators have vowed to defy the mandatory GPS requirement now that the second grace period allowing taxis to continue operating without it expires on Thursday.The expiration date comes just two months ahead of the annual taxi re-licensing period in January. And while no clear announcement has been made by Government on the issue, a stand off looks imminent.Taxi owners could face being failed for licence renewals by the Transport Control Department for not having GPS, a move that led to the initial extension in the first place.Several taxi owners without GPS failed to get renewals last January and subsequently complained that they could not earn a living in an already struggling economy without their vehicles.The Ministry introduced a six-month grace period, which ended on June 30, the second extension ends on Thursday. A Taxi Commission was appointed and given expanded authority to help improve the industry and sort out the GPS issue.But Bermuda Taxi Operators Association (BTOA) President Leopold Kuchler said since then “nothing has changed”.He charged that there has been no movement on the 15-issues cited by the BTOA objecting to the mandatory requirement for GPS.Meanwhile a Ministry spokesman said: “The Taxi Commission will provide the Minister with a report imminently that will contain recommendations on GPS usage and other very important matters that will assist with the modernisation of the taxi industry.“To avoid pre-empting or prejudicing the report with recommendations that will be submitted by the Taxi Commission, the Ministry of Transport will defer commenting on specific questions related to GPS usage and enforcement until the report has been received and thoroughly reviewed.“The Ministry is confident the Taxi Commission and its members are making inroads to progressively modernise and unify the industry. Notwithstanding, their task is an arduous one therefore the Ministry would like to take this opportunity to thank the Commission members for their hard work and efforts thus far,” he said.But going into an election, Mr Kuchler warned that taxi owners and operators are “voters too”. “This could have been dealt with months ago, and they’re pushing it all the way down to crunch time.“I don’t want to politicise this because everything in Bermuda is political, but either way we want the mandatory requirement lifted to make GPS optional,” he said.“As it stands now everybody has to be a member of a dispatch service, and that forces GPS on us, a service that costs money and makes no money for the ones paying for it.“To make the system cheaper means one centralised dispatch, we know the Government has already chosen that dispatcher, which gives rise to the whole question of who is profiting from it,” said Mr Kuchler.Another longtime taxi owner, Lee Tucker agreed and said: “The entire system was implemented wrong from the start, it’s unfair and I’m prepared to support those who are against it.“The Government is contradicting itself, on the one hand there’s a law banning the use of cellphones while operating vehicles, while on the other, they want drivers to read a GPS screen while driving.“Furthermore the current system has several deadspots around the Island where GPS doesn’t even work,” said Mr Tucker.“We’ve been fighting this thing since 2005, the Government needs to know that there are at least 545 owners with another 2,000 drivers. With an election pending I don’t think it would be wise to move on this.“They should just take it off the books until after the election, and I also noticed the One Bermuda Alliance said they would make GPS optional if elected and as far as I’m concerned that’s what I want to hear,” he said.“We compete with more minibuses on the roads, they don’t have to have GPS but somehow we have to have it and pay for it as well, that just doesn’t seem fair,” he added.And a spokeswoman for one of the dispatching services who asked not to be named said: “No one responds when we post jobs on GPS, we don’t get a response until we put the job out on the radio.“I feel they should have one system across the board and make GPS optional not mandatory,” she said.The report by the Taxi Commission will look at the feasibility of integrating all three systems, the technological challenges and other initiatives including a fuel surcharge, rate increases and discounts for parts and services.The Taxi Commission is comprised of industry stakeholders “including but not limited to the dispatching companies, owners and operators. Their report is “imminent” but it has yet to be submitted.