By Jennifer Glickel and Olivia Scheck
DNAinfo Reporter/Producer
MANHATTAN — The Taxi and Limousine Commission has postponed a vote to amend the rules governing taxi drivers' attire, a spokesman for the department said.
The proposal to rework the language governing taxi drivers' clothes was scheduled to be discussed at the TLC's monthly meeting on Thursday, but spokesman Allan Fromberg said the meeting did not have the quorum necessary to vote on the measure.
If the proposed changes are accepted, the detailed list of prohibited clothing items that is currently in place would be replaced by a more general requirement that taxi drivers "be clean and neat in dress and person and present a professional appearance."
As the rules currently stand, specific apparel that is forbidden from being worn as outerwear includes underwear, tank tops, tube tops, body shirts, swimwear, bathing trunks, or cut off shorts.
"The TLC believes that a general requirement better states its concerns and that a detailed list is outmoded and impractical," the TLC said in a statement.
"The TLC believes that the public is entitled to drivers who present a neat and professional appearance."
Drivers who violate the dress code face a $25 fine, although the TLC has only issued 46 summonses for improper attire since 1996, am New York reported.
Some cabbies reportedly objected to the proposed rule change.
Driver Bertin Kouakou told the Associated Press that he had never gotten a complaint from a passenger about his clothing in his more than 15 years of cab driving.
"No, because they don't pay (for) my clothing," Kouakou told the AP.
Kouakou said that the TLC should "do something to improve the service for passengers, not bother the drivers."
