Cabbies Told to Clean Up Their Act : Taxi service: City commission adopts dress code for drivers. Plaid pants are out; some will have to wear ties.

Plaid pants, leisure suits, bib overalls and other sartorial horrors were banned Thursday in a strict new dress code approved for Los Angeles cabdrivers.

The code, adopted by the city’s Transportation Commission, was called for under a sweeping taxicab regulation ordinance approved in January by the City Council. The ordinance sets up the city’s first system of fines for misbehavior by cabdrivers, including improper dressing.

The commission on Thursday spelled out a set of basic dress standards for cabbies and at the same time approved specific dress codes submitted by each of the city’s eight taxicab companies and associations.

Most of the companies went beyond the commission’s requirement and have prescribed outfits for their drivers that fall just short of uniforms. Two of the companies told the commission that their drivers will be required to wear neckties at all times.

Councilman Joel Wachs first proposed dress standards for cabdrivers last summer, saying he had received increasing numbers of complaints about their appearance and behavior.

Wachs said Thursday he is “very pleased” with the regulations. “I think they even went a little beyond what I anticipated,” he said.

Under the new minimum standards, which take effect immediately, the wearing of jeans, except for designer garments, is “discouraged.”

Shirts with tails must be tucked in and no more than two buttons at the neck may be unbuttoned.

Shorts, cut-offs and sweat suits are banned and trousers must be of a dark, solid color, without bold prints or plaid designs. Skirts must be knee-length and also must be solid colors. (Only female cabbies may wear skirts.)

Sandals and open-toed shoes are not allowed. Shoes that can be polished must be polished and free of scuff marks. Clothing must be pressed and drivers must be “without objectionable odors.”

Cabbies caught violating the dress code will be issued warnings for the first month, but may be formally cited beginning on May 1, said Ken Cude of the city’s Department of Transportation.

The drivers also must adhere to guidelines drawn up by their companies and approved by the commission.

Drivers for L.A Taxi and United Checker Cab Co. face what appears to be the toughest code. Beginning Monday, they must wear black or red neckties bearing the company logo at all times while on duty.

“I firmly believe the drivers will be very positive about it,” said Gorman Gilbert, president of Taxi Systems Inc., which operates both companies. “But any time you do something like this, there are going to be some people who don’t like it.”

Gilbert said the mandatory neckties were suggested by the drivers, who approved the ties as well as the rest of the company guidelines in a vote recently.

“We understood right from the start that we didn’t want to push something on the drivers that they didn’t want,” he said.

Their dress code now includes mandatory white dress shirts with collars, dark trousers or skirts, and an optional black or red sweater with a company logo on the left side.

City investigators and airport security officers will be given copies of all eight company dress codes, Cude said.

The investigators will make periodic checks of the holding areas at airports, he said.

After the 30-day grace period, violators will be cited and penalty points will be charged against their companies, Cude said. Once a company reaches a threshold level of penalty points, each dress code violation will cost $1,500, he said. “If the companies can’t control their drivers, they might suffer,” he said.

Cude said the companies may pass the fines along to the drivers.

While dress code violations are charged to the companies, the ordinance provides for fines against drivers for violations of other provisions of the new regulations, such as rudeness, tampering with meters, refusing to take passengers or refusing to take them where they want to go.

Drivers face fines of up to $500, and their companies or associations can be fined up to $100,000 if they accumulate enough penalty points under a disciplinary system that will be administered by the city’s Department of Transportation.