Bus Drivers to Look More Laid Back on Fridays

Ralph Kramden is going to become Ed Norton on Fridays.

Metropolitan Transportation Authority bus and train operators will soon be allowed to shed their uniforms for a casual dress day on Fridays.

But they won’t be permitted to wear just anything, such as those T-shirts that say “Crooked Politicians Build Crooked Tunnels,� worn by critics of the MTA’s subway project.

The drivers will be permitted to wear MTA-authorized polo shirts featuring the agency’s logo. They also will be allowed to wear baseball caps.

The new policy was prompted by a driver’s query about why MTA executives have a casual dress day but the drivers don’t.

(The MTA has allowed its 3,500 drivers to dress in costumes for Halloween. No masks or funny shoes permitted.)

“They spend a lot of hours sitting behind the wheel, and they ought to wear uniforms that make them feel good,� said Ellen Levine, MTA executive officer for operations.

“If you were boarding a plane and you saw somebody in jeans and a sport shirt who was going to steer that plane, you as a passenger would wonder whether or not you would wanted to board the plane,� she said. “There is something about a uniform that gives a sense of confidence.�

She said the powder blue or white knit polo shirts allow drivers to still appear professional and instill confidence. They will be required to wear their usual blue pants. No jeans or sneakers are allowed.

Bus and train operators, who replaced their drab brown with a new, smoky blue uniform featuring military-style epaulets in 1995, welcomed the one-day-a-week change, which begins the first Friday in July.

“I love it,� said Dora Alvarez, a subway operator. “Everybody has a casual Friday. Why can’t we have it?�

As for the public, they probably wouldn’t care what the drivers wear, so long as the bus arrives on time.