10 Responses

  1. mike m says:

    NYPD directive on the legality of public photography to print and carry – http://boingboing.net/2009/05/17/nypd-directive-on-th.html

  2. Jennifer says:

    The MTA and NYPD have repeatedly said it is not illegal to photograph or film MTA buses or trains. I’m really sorry that you had to go through that. Maybe I’m just a vindicative bitch, but I would take my photographs of MTA employees lounging around and send them to the powers that be there. Or the NY Times.

  3. Keith says:

    It’s perfectly legal to photograph rail equipment unless you are doing so from railroad property without permission. Most if not all utility employees (Con Ed, PSEG, Verizon, Metro North, MTA) get VERY nervous around people with cameras taking pictures of them “working”, as from one former Verizon employee, often times the company will send what seems to be ordinary people out to job sites to “take pictures” or basically catch employees slacking off. In most cases with photographic evidence of employee laziness (caught sleeping, etc) even union reps can’t help the situation.

  4. tacony palmyra says:

    Emily, you should send a complaint to the MTA’s inspector general. That’s what that office is there for:

    http://mtaig.state.ny.us/tips_complaints.htm

  5. Laurieann Bennett says:

    You are crazy. They will be waiting for u in the morning

  6. dsalt says:

    stop fudging your weight.

  7. Clarice says:

    Go CatGirl! That must have been very stressful, but I’m glad you stood your ground.

    I took photos at Crestwood a few weeks ago and was nervous because people kept staring and pointing. Luckily, no one bothered me.

  8. Tyler Trahan says:

    That “inner circle” of transit photographers who’ve had the cops called on them is pretty big, I’d imagine.

    I’ve had the cops called on me while photographing NJT, Amtrak, and PATH in Newark, NJ (although I was shooting a huge bridge) who told me up front that what I was doing wasn’t illegal, they just had an obligation to follow-up on 911 emergency calls. I left anyway since I’d gotten my shots and didn’t feel like another round.

    I was also told to stop shooting inside Downtown Crossing, a subway station in Boston, by a pair of plainclothes transit police officers. The MBTA photo policy is pretty much “shoot whatever you like, but not for commercial use and stay out of the way of passengers. And you need an ID.”

    Aggressive and threatening employees…that’s not something that happens everyday. The worst I’ve had is a conductor flipping me off as the train pulled away; in other words nothing.

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