Will NYC taxi drivers have to work on their professional appearance? by Zuzana Zelenakova

Did you know New York City cab drivers have a dress code? Hard to believe, but it´s true. Their 62-page manual includes section with regulations concerning the dress code, or better to say, what they cannot wear. Tube shirts, tank tops, bathing trunks are forbidden. The cab drivers´s dress code was first introduced in 1987 stating that sleeveless shirts, sandals or any shorts shorter than mid-tigh are banned. However, the earliest cabbies wore uniforms based on cadet clothes from West Point. By 1925, they were required to wear a knitted cap, white linen shirt, coat and a tie. Currently, cab drivers are facing fine of $25 if they fail to be „clean and neat i! n dress and person.“ The Taxi and Limousine Commission is scheduled to hold a public hearing on the mater December 16. "The TLC believes that a general requirement better states its concerns and that a detailed list is outmoded and impractical," the city agency said in a public notice on its website. "The TLC believes that the public is entitled to drivers who present a neat and professional appearance." However, taxi drivers, most probably, will not like this kind of restrictions. “What was it about? Somebody wore shorts?” asked Bhairavi Desai, executive director of the New York Taxi Workers Alliance. “I would be concerned if the idea of professional attire is left to the naked eye to decide.” “I’m not sure if that’s a good or bad thing,” he said Graham Hodges, that author of a book Taxi! A Social History of the New York City Cabdriver. “It would be nice to see cabdrivers expressing their opinions again.” ! Alongside the new dress code issue also another matter is bein! g handle d. It is proposed that drivers don´t need to inform a passenger at the start that they have to pay for any tolls as "the riding public is aware, generally, that passengers are responsible for tolls."

related story (sgx18705): http://news.yahoo.com/s/ac/7313626_new_york_city_considers_c...

by Zuzana Zelenakova for Cantell TV (http://cantell.tv)

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