Saggy pants banned on Fort Worth buses - how low is too low?

(CBS/KTVT/AP) FORT WORTH - Keep your saggy pants to yourself.

That's the message in Fort Worth, Texas, where the city's Transportation Authority has decided to let bus drivers turn away passengers whose pants sag below the waist, reports CBS affiliate KTVT.

The no-saggy pants campaign began in 2008, but the dress code was recently tweaked to deny boarding to "saggy violators," said Joan Hunter, spokeswoman for the transit system known as the T.

"It's not like they have to go home," Hunter said. "They can just pull it up. It's to be respectful of other riders," she told KTVT.

Posters are being placed on buses and billboards to let riders know that saggy pants are not acceptable, the Fort Worth Star-Telegram reported Tuesday.

The policy change took effect May 12, and that day drivers asked about 50 riders to pull up their pants before boarding, according to Hunter. All complied, she said.

"They'll mess with our freedom. Pretty soon they're going to ban dreadlocks, too," said Cory Shelby, a tattoo artist who rides city buses.

Shelby, 29, recently was told to pull up his pants before boarding, even though he said his black cargo shorts were not drooping enough to be distasteful.

"They told me I had to pull up my pants," he said, "And my boxers weren't even showing."

City Councilman Frank Moss has said the saggy-pants look hurts the ability of young people to land jobs.

"This shows we have taken the overall concept of pulling them up to a new level," Moss said during a recent council meeting. "There are some real policies in place to say, if you don't pull `em up, you can't ride."