Sacramento Cabbies Upset Over Proposed Hygiene, Dress Code Requirements

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Sacramento Cabbies Upset Over Proposed Hygiene, Dress Code Requirements
March 18, 2014 11:44 PM


SACRAMENTO (CBS13) — New proposed rules for cab drivers in Sacramento are causing some cabbies to think they’re being taken for a ride.

At a time when competition for cabs has never been more fierce, drivers say the new rules, including a dress code and hygiene guidelines, are just not fair.

Ahmid Mahmoud is fired up about the proposed changes.

“We don’t have rent to pay? We don’t have bills to pay?” he said. So he’s lining up his fellow drivers to take on City Hall.

The city is considering putting stricter rules in place for Sacramento taxi drivers including:

Making sure vehicles are no more than 8 years old,
A dress code of a collared shirt and slacks,
Making it mandatory for all taxis to accept credit cards,
and a new policy requiring drivers to be hygienically clean.

“That’s very insulting for me, and for all drivers,” Mahmoud said, calling the last requirement unnecessary.

Facing growing competition from web-based rides Uber and the ride-sharing service Lyft, some Sacramento taxi drivers say the proposed cabbie crackdown could put the brakes on their business.
The city calls it good business.

I wish this happened everywhere. I don't want to smell your lunch or perfume water stuff. I also don't want to see your transparent 'Blondie' teeshirt.

I have to act like a professional rider in a cab, you should have to act like a professional diver.

CBS

[Adam]

I read this earlier and just shook my head.

Back when I was a cabbie, we had all sorts of rules, to include a dress code. The dress code was not strictly enforced, because some of it was poorly written. For example, the code said something along the lines of "shoes must be sturdy and made of leather." The point was to not have cabbies driving around in flip-flops, or worse, barefoot. But no one got busted for, say, canvas sneakers so long as they were reasonably clean and not in complete disrepair. We were required to wear shirts with collars and at least long slacks. Jeans were frowned upon. Shorts were absolutely out. Nominally, all cabbies were to be "clean-shaven," but the taxi board was tacitly OK with beards so long as they were well-kept and not some ridiculous ZZ Top monstrosity. Allegedly, there was a rule that males could not have hair extending beyond the collar, but I never saw it enforced.

Our cars were inspected annually for pretty much everything: good mechanical working order, no excessive smoke from the tailpipe, good ride quality, and then the inside had to be clean, free from odor, etc. We were also subject to random inspection by the taxi board: they would just show up at the airport taxi rank from time to time and look through cars. At least at my company, cars were required to be washed and cleaned inside every 24 hours, rain or shine.

I would have thought that a one-horse town like Nashville in the early '90s would have had less restrictive taxi regulations than big cities, not more.