A new taxi meter software may be coming to West Tisbury. Selectmen discussed the proposed system at their meeting Wednesday evening during a public hearing on the issue.

Cab fares have long been the subject of debate with different regulations in each town leaving some customers feeling there is nowhere to turn if they feel they’ve been overcharged. Myriad variables including seasonal flux, traffic, time of day, duration of drives, number of customers, and varying town regulations all contribute to a sense of inconsistency across the Island.

West Tisbury Lighthouse Taxi co-owner Michael Noel attended the hearing and invited fellow taxi business leaders Michael Mszanski and Morgan Reitzas to tell selectmen about the metering software “Taximeter.”

Mr. Mszanski and Mr. Reitzas operate Martha’s Vineyard Taxi company, which is licensed in Tisbury and Edgartown, and they have recently been testing Taximeter in their cabs.

The program is run from a tablet mounted inside the taxi. It uses satellite GPS to track distance traveled and can be locked so meter settings stay consistent across different vehicles.

“Our customers have expressed no concern watching this meter tick up as it goes,” Mr. Mszanski said.

Mr. Mszanski told selectmen he and Mr. Reitzas had set the test meters to charge $5 for getting in the cab, then an additional $3.55 for each mile. To account for traffic, a dollar was added for each minute spent going less than 15 miles per hour and time spent waiting. They also changed settings to make the rates higher late at night. There were additional settings for increasing fares for groups consisting of more than four people.

“Confusion and mistrust hurts the taxi system as a whole on the Island,” Mr. Mszanski told the Gazette by phone Thursday. “I think [a standardized system] would make everybody more comfortable.”

Following discussion, selectmen seemed interested in the system.

“One thing that appeals a lot to me is standardizing it across the towns,” said Selectman Cynthia Mitchell. She also commended the business leaders for taking initiative on the issue.

Mr. Mszanski and Mr. Reitzas plan to attend upcoming Edgartown and Tisbury selectmen meetings to pitch the software to those towns as well.

Selectmen agreed to send a letter of interest to selectmen in Edgartown and Tisbury supporting the use of the software and the possibility of having uniform metering in all three towns.

In other business, selectmen invited the affordable housing committee to the meeting to discuss the Silva lot on State Road. The parcel of land measures about three acres and is located across State Road from Island Gymnastics. A warrant article for the upcoming town meeting suggests transferring that parcel to be used for affordable housing.

Selectmen Skipper Manter and Kent Healy said they may caution the town against voting for that since it’s one of the town’s last vacant properties.

“It’s my sense that we should preserve that for any type of future use the town might have because in the event we need a piece of property, we’re not going to have one and we’re going to have to spend a lot of money for that,” said Selectman Skipper Manter.

Affordable housing committee chairman Larry Schubert argued affordable housing is a visible demonstrable need now, and saving the land for an unforeseen purpose doesn’t make sense.

“I can’t come up with anything else the town would need that it doesn’t have,” he said. The committee had discussed building housing in that area to support the growing elderly population.

Selectmen also previewed the new town website. The current website hasn’t been significantly updated in about a decade.

Selectmen also signed lease documents with the Scott’s Grove affordable housing developers and signed the town meeting warrant.