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photographs on mbta property no longer require permit
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The 17 July Metro announced a change in mbta policy regarding amateur photographers:
This week, Transit Police finalized a policy that will allow people to shoot photos or video on T property as long as they are willing to produce identification when asked by an officer or employee, and allow their information to be logged into the police system.
while not exactly great, it's certainly better than being hassled and being told to leave.
Posted at 6:03AM, 21 July 2007 PDT
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Here's the policy as a nice PDF file, ready to be printed out.
transitpolice.us/Photo Policy/Photo Policy 1.pdf
Here's an embedded link, as the naked URL will not work properly in some browsers.
Posted 59 months ago.
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awesome! thanks for the link
Posted 59 months ago.
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Happy to have been of service!
Posted 59 months ago.
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That's great news, always felt surreptitious taking out the camera.
Posted 59 months ago.
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I still feel surrepitious about pulling out the camera...about 2 weeks ago, a station official over at Government Center (on the Blue Line) told me I couldn't take pictures. Which led me to some investigation. And this site. There are several things that bother me about the wording of that memo allowing us to shoot photos without a permit. Without posting them just yet...
it is enough to make me think of the ACLU once again, and it is not enough to reassure me that taking pics in the subway is O.K.
Posted 55 months ago.
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Crunchy Pickle [deleted] says:
So if Grandma comes to town and takes a snapshot at Park Street, but she doesn't have a driver's license (she hasn't driven for twenty years), they will detain her? Since when are we required to carry identification cards in this country?
Posted 49 months ago.
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Just joined this group, and am so glad to see this thread. A few days ago, a trolley driver told me I wasn't allowed to take pictures aboard his Riverside train. Apparently, the T hasn't informed its drivers of this new policy. Has anyone else recently been bothered this way?
Posted 40 months ago.
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I was given a hard time last night by an inspector at the Haymarket bus platform, as I was trying to get a shot of the Government Center garage. The light was interesting. He said that he was instructed to tell people to get a permit or go away. I told him that there was a memo, but I didn't have a copy, and he said he hadn't heard of it. I thanked him for looking out for our safety and left, because it really wasn't worth the trouble to argue. He said it would be ok if I took like 5 steps back so I was on the public sidewalk and not the MBTA sidewalk (the texture was different), which seems kind of odd.
@DGH On board the vehicles, I understand there is a safety concern with people using flashes and such so I can see how a driver would say something like that and catch the good people in the process. Some people are very inconsiderate or ignorant about flash use indoors.
Originally posted 32 months ago.
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Eric Kilby edited this topic 32 months ago.
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People still bother me about taking pictures.
Posted 28 months ago.
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warthog_78 [deleted] says:
Yesterday at BU Central, I took a picture as a train approached the station. When I boarded, the conductor told me I would be escorted off the train if I took any other pictures. It was daytime, so there were no flashes involved. I have lodged an inquiry at the MBTA website. I'll report back if I get a response.
Posted 26 months ago.
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warthog_78 [deleted] says:
After two weeks, I got a response from the MBTA, citing the same policy discussed in earlier posts, with the following closing sentence:
If you complied with the rules above and/ did not step onto the track to take your photographs and/or were not using any equipment as mentioned above, and/or did not interfere with passengers boarding or exiting, we apologize for the employee behavior.
Thanks, Charlie!
Originally posted 25 months ago.
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warthog_78 edited this topic 25 months ago.
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Alot of people on the T bother me, telling me I cant film here and stuff. I dont mean to be rude to any employees, but this has to stop, because it is really pissing me off. Just because we have a new GM doesnt mean the policies have changed yet. If it happens one more time to me, im going to use alot of sailor language to the people who are stopping us from taking pictures or videos. No offense to those who find this unpleasant.
Posted 23 months ago.
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I've printed out a copy of the policy and store folded copies in my personal and work photobags. Found the policy after doing some online searches after a bus driver actually stopped a bus with passengers in the middle of a street last October to tell me he saw me taking pictures of his bus and that it was illegal. Haven't had the occasion to pull out the policy letter since (maybe they can sense my confidence ;).
Having a copy on you--though obnoxious to have to carry around--would seem to be the best way to end the debate with misinformed employees though. I'd rather have a copy and get the shot, then be shooed away and have to come back another time.
Posted 23 months ago.
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This is still going on, that photographers are being spoken to about taking pictures inside the T stations? It has been a long, long time since I've been hassled about taking pictures. I remember a time when it was so common to get hassled if you were caught taking pictures...I went and snuck my picture taking—mighty difficult considering the number of cameras that are now present in the subway stations. I had one encounter with a T police officer that very nearly cured me of my desire to take pictures anywhere near T property...were I anything less then the kind of person I am by disposition, I would have given up photographing the rolling stock and stations of the MBTA right then, because I had been threatened with arrest for photographing at one of their stations. I can point at the particular pictures I took in April, 2009, and remember that encounter. Had my wife not been present...I'm sure I would have been hauled away right then, to their headquarters out on Southampton St.
I have looked hard for anything that prohibits the public from photographing in the subway, and have found nothing. Not one thing, either in case law, the Mass General Law, or the Code of Massachusetts Regulations that even hints at photography being prohibited in the T stations. That still hasn't stopped the T from being unfriendly toward photographers.
My first encounter with the no-photography rule at the T was when I was 11 years old, in 1973. In Washington St.; I had set up my Dad's Yashica MAT-124 (a neat 2¼" twin lens view camera.) for a picture, when one of the officials approached us and explained, diplomatically, that picture taking wasn't allowed on T property. We complied, and when the fellow was out of eyeshot...I got my picture. Until just a few years ago, you would've been able to get your pictures unmolested...not anymore, I sense, since 9/11.
For me...there has been a distinct improvement in the situation. I'd like to know what equipment you're using...is it point and shoot? Or a dSLR? Perhaps...if you're wearing a dSLR, it discourages the employees from going after you if they see you taking pics? A long-shot thought...but almost all the times I've been hassled, it's been while carrying a point-and shoot digital camera (perhaps I looked like an easier target with that camera? Still...I've had encounters with the box camera as well...). Still...I'd be curious what others might say about that...
Posted 23 months ago.
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Fujifilm S1500 Wide lens.
Posted 23 months ago.
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