Seattle mayor supports removal of taxi driver hygiene requirement

Seattle Mayor Mike McGinn says a move to eliminate a hygiene requirement for taxi drivers is appropriate.

The city of Seattle is considering eliminating a regulation that requires taxi cab drivers to wear neat and clean clothes and to be well-groomed and without offensive body odor.

Seattle cab drivers are hard working men and women, says the mayor, and it’s not the city’s place to tell them how to dress.

“It is a little bit of an affront to their dignity to be told, ‘hey, you don’t even know what to wear to the job,'” McGinn tells KIRO Radio’s Ross and Burbank.

McGinn understands the idea that taxi cabs are regularly used by tourists and the city wants to put its best foot forward, but he says these people are professionals.

“Being told what they had to wear, it just really offended them.”

The mayor says the requirement was never really enforced anyway.

The proposed change will be discussed at a city council hearing on budget-related issues on Thursday evening at City Hall.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.