Street Smarter : Out-of-Date Uniforms for MTA Drivers Get a Make-Over Befitting the 1990s
Just when fashion designers have decided the 1970s are back in, the MTA has decided they are definitely out.
No longer will the Ralph (and Rafaela) Kramdens of the world face the hot, exhaust-choked streets of Los Angeles in the pastel polyester shirts and drab brown pants that they have worn since the Gerald Ford era. Henceforth, it’s a strictly blue-collar affair.
Beginning this month, bus operators have begun wearing smoky blue cotton/wool shirts featuring military-style epaulets and two nicely functional pencil slots in the breast pocket. They can choose among navy Eisenhower jackets, double-breasted blazers and, for women, jaunty berets and Velcro-equipped ascots--designed to meet safety, comfort and adjustability needs.
MTA officials figure that if you are going to chauffeur a $350,000 vehicle, you may as well look spiffy. And despite hemorrhaging money in other areas of its budget, the agency will spend at least $800,000 this year achieving the new image.
The MTA’s 3,900 bus and train operators have changed over to the new look, as was evident in the lounge at the agency’s Boyle Heights bus yard last week. While MTA brass showed off the updated stylings to the gathered media, drivers in loose-collar short-sleeve shirts played Ping-Pong, and their more sartorially resplendent peers milled about in long sleeves, ties, five-point caps and short, military-style Ike jackets.
“I would say this uniform has more of a dressier look,” said driver Herb Orange, grasping his lapels proudly. “Myself, when I’m off, I’m what you might call a spiffy dresser. I like to look good.”
Passengers on Orange’s Wilshire Boulevard route have noticed the difference, he said. Particularly the ladies. “They love it, love it, love it,” said the 48-year-old bachelor, beaming widely.
Eloisa Diaz proudly displayed her beret, sprightly cocked back on her head and set off with black Ray-Ban sunglasses, for something of a Che Guevara look. “We got a lot of compliments from the passengers,” she said.
Although she would not go so far as to say the old uniforms were ugly, MTA regional general manager Ellen Levine allowed that they were “dull brown” and visibly outdated.
“It was a uniform of the past,” she said. “It was certainly functional and trendy for its time.”
That, of course, was in the days when leisure suits were de rigueur and the Bee Gees were warbling the soundtrack from “Saturday Night Fever.” Old photographs in the terminal show young drivers playing pool in tight-thighed, flared polyester pants and shirts whose collars could have been designed by Boeing.
“I would say they were a more casual look,” Levine said politely.
Styles--particularly collars--evolved slowly over the years without a radical redesign, drivers said. Originally, they could choose from yellow, orange, beige or blue shirts.
“Blue and beige, most of the guys used those,” said Ralph Rojas, a 20-year MTA veteran. “The orange ones, they faded out quickly.”
The MTA will provide each driver with one full new uniform and a $175 to $300 annual allowance to buy replacement clothes, Levine said.
Still, amid the MTA’s financial woes, some drivers wondered if they were all dressed up with nowhere to go. “It just means more money--a waste of money,” said one driver.
