New York City cabbies' gruff demeanors and scruffy appearances are as storied as the black-and-yellow taxis they pilot, but some city regulators are trying to polish that image by implementing dress code for the city's fleet of drivers, according to the Associated press
Drivers who violate the regulations by donning banned items, such as tube shirts, tank tops or bathing trunks, could be fined. Although regulations like this are tough to implement among such a mobile set of employees, the policy is an attempt to communicate professional standards, said David S. Yassky, the Taxi andlimousine commission chairman in an interview with the New York Times.
New York isn't the first metropolis to try and control the taxi experience for visitors.
During 2008's Olympic games, Beijing banned all taxi driver with shaved heads.
The move was just one of many restrictions imposed on the city's 70,000 taxi drivers that summer. That same year, women couldn't don hairstyles that were too fancy and were forbidden to wear earrings. Similarly, eating, smoking and spitting were banned in all of the city's taxis, weired asia news tells us.
In London, some of the world's best - and most opinionated - cabbies have been asked to shut up, according to the telegraph.
In March, regulators in the city were considering extra training for new black cab drivers that will teach them when to stop talking, in addition to other basic customer service skills such as greeting customers and managing hectic situations.
This would add on to the cabbies' nearly three years of training to memorize the winding, twisty streets of the old European city, an acquisition known as "the Knowledge." That arcane training, however, doesn't necessarily prepare taxi drivers for more modern dilemmas - like conserving fuel or assisting disabled passengers.
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