On Wednesday, the City Council passed legislation requiring cab drivers to take a course to identify hookers and taking them to task for participating in prostitution, letting them face up to a $10,000 fine and potentially losing their licenses, but Mayor Michael Bloomberg expressed some skepticism of the measure on John Gambling’s radio show this morning.

“I saw the picture in the paper,” he said, likely referring to yesterday’s City Hall protest of relatively provocatively dressed women arguing cabbies would now try to avoid picking them up at night. “And I said, ‘Are these prostitutes Mike, or something like that?'”

“I started to think for a second, if I were a young lady and I dressed in a sporty way — or how you’d want to phrase it — and there’s nothing wrong with that. Maybe it’s not appropriate to go to a workplace, but at night, sometimes sure, why not?” Mr. Bloomberg hypothesized. “I would not want somebody thinking that I’m a prostitute.”

He stressed that he hadn’t fully evaluated the legislation, however.

“I have no idea if … the administration is going to go along with it or not. I haven’t talked to anybody about it,” he said, adding later, “Whether’s it’s enforceable or a good idea, I don’t know.”