Time To Reflect

Following the defeat of the legislation to introduce mandatory GPS in Bermuda’s taxis in the Senate last night, both Government and the taxi industry need to take a step back.

This is the second time the Senate has rejected the legislation following approval by the House of Assembly – the last time was back in 2002 – and the Government must wait a year before they can reintroduce the bill. Next time it would only need to be passed by the House for it to become law – a foregone conclusion given the PLP’s majority.

It’s to be hoped that Transport Minister Dr. Ewart Brown isn’t quite that bloody-minded, however. In the same way that without a housing plan it’s impossible to know whether building homes at Southside will help solve the housing crisis, in the absence of a detailed analysis of the problems within the taxi industry it’s still unclear whether GPS is the best way to go about improving service. Hence the call by Shadow Transport Minister Jamahl Simmons and others for a comprehensive review, in collaboration with the taxi operators. Times have changed since the last such report was produced in the early nineties. The drivers and owners must give such a review their full and honest cooperation if they’re to avoid GPS being imposed on Bermudians a year from now regardless of its efficacy. The Government needs to demonstrate that it has an understanding of the problems within the industry and is implementing those solutions most likely to address them if it's not to see its popularity continue to decline.

Nonetheless the recent skirmishes have clarified a number of things. First, the drivers are not hostile to GPS because of its cost, many having said they wouldn’t want it even if it were free.

Second, the Government does not need GPS to enable it to collate data on the use of taxis: this is the responsibility of the dispatching companies. And as independent Senator Walwyn Hughes pointed out, legislation is already in place to allow Dr. Brown to compel them to provide it. If the Ministry were to enforce these regulations more enthusiastically and prosecute dispatchers who failed to supply the data, those companies would have to take whatever steps were necessary to enable them to gather it. If GPS was the best way for them to do this, the Minister might find the dispatchers adopting the technology without any need for legislation.

If Dr. Brown is still determined to have GPS, perhaps that would be a more cunning way for him to go about it.

Comments

[g wachter on 16.07.04 at 01:32]

I suppose the honourable Dr. Brown's "my way or the highway" stance is as close to vision as we're likely to get. Your strategy of actually enforcing exististing laws is far too pedestrian for Bermuda, Mr. Wells. This would actually require open pandora's box: if we enforce dispatch data collection, what other laws would we have to enforce? I think Bermuda has law down cold...how about order? Oh, right after some musters some actual vision.

[j_g_a_l_t on 16.07.04 at 06:41]

I would like to point out that Dr Brown is the transport minister, elected by the people for the people. I suppose that many of the posters at this site believe that its ok to sacrifice the few for the many. I'm sure many of the taxi drivers held this view until it was their turn to be sacrficed to the whims of the majority Government.

What will you do when its your turn? The answer here is less Government interference in our private lives.

[Tiger Bay on 16.07.04 at 09:35]

Well, according to our diminuitive premier, the independence debate will unite us.

Another doubletalking rascal riding over the top of the real issue; which is that we are not united on this subject, and that the PLP's pretension that we are united drives deeper distrust and dislike in the community.