MBTA photo policy
Some T employees still haven't gotten the memo about photos
By adamg - 9/10/11 - 4:54 pmAdam Weiss reports a T worker at State Street ordered him to put away his camera "because of 9/11."
Weiss adds it was one of the orange vests, not a T cop, and that he would have tried to explain the T's photo policy, but his train was pulling in.
Word slow to reach Mattapan Line that riders don't need a permit to take photos
By adamg - 10/31/10 - 1:56 pmGuy reports (click to expand) a driver on a Mattapan trolley told him to stop videoing out the back window because he didn't have a permit - which the T stopped issuing three years ago when it decided to allow non-commercial photography.
T to people with cameras: Shoot pervs, not tunnels
By adamg - 8/7/10 - 1:04 pm
T GM Richard Davey, Deputy Transit Police Chief Joseph O'Connor at Hynes today.
MBTA officials today hailed people using social media to post photos of alleged exposers and gropers, although they said they're prefer if the photos were forwarded to them before being posted to social-media sites.
At the same time, officials say there are limits to photography underground: Try taking photos of power panels or locks or tunnels and don't be surprised if a T worker tells you to knock it off.
MBTA employees don't care: Even if you show them their own official photo policy, they still won't let you take pictures
By adamg - 7/14/10 - 10:43 pmLibberding reports a photography class she teaches went into the bowels of Harvard station tonight to, well, take photos. And they were promptly blocked by T workers who told them to knock it off, even though official T policy specifically allows non-commercial photography on T property (with certain safety caveats, such as no use of flash):
As we were talking, another MBTA employee caught another one of our group taking photos, and pulled him towards us. Eventually, I got around to showing each employee (by now, there were three of them gathering us together) what their own website said.
They seemed shocked by this. The woman we initially encountered had already called dispatch, and was in the middle of telling us that three years ago, she underwent training that told her that all photographic activity on MBTA property was strictly prohibited.
MBTA photo policy turns into Moebius strip at Newton Highlands
By adamg - 2/12/10 - 2:20 pmBack in October, a trolley driver threatened Owen Byrne with arrest for taking a photo at the Newton Highlands T stop.
Today, he reports, he was back at Newton Highlands to be interviewed by a reporter and camera crew about the MBTA photo policy that a sizable number of T employees don't seem to know exists:
Impressively enough a train driver stopped and asked if we had permission (which we did) to film at the station while we were doing this.
Look for Byrne and Adam Weiss, who had his own photo run-in with a T worker, on Channel 4 news tonight, sometime between 5 and 6:30 p.m.
Another MBTA worker who doesn't get the picture
By adamg - 2/12/10 - 8:54 amJeff Tamagini reports a run-in at Kenmore this morning with an MBTA supervisor unaware that the authority allows photography in stations:
... The train pulls up and opens its doors, I take my camera off my shoulder to carry it in my hand so it doesn't bang into the door, when I get a tap on the shoulder. It's the MBTA inspector that was in the little booth on the platform, he asking me with a snarky attitude if I am taking pictures, I say "No, I'm getting on the train", and I get a "Okay its against the law to take pictures on the T". When are the officials of this horrid system going to learn their own laws and policies! ...
Official MBTA photo policy, which states photography is allowed, with certain restrictions (such as no flash or tripod).
The MBTA might want to inform its police officers that photography is not a crime
By adamg - 11/19/09 - 4:42 pmAdam Weiss reports one of those black-suited special-forces T cops told him to stop taking pictures at the Government Center T stop this afternoon because, apparently, nobody's ever told him about the MBTA's official photography policy - which says picture taking is allowed on T property (just without a flash or tripod). Weiss says:
At least he was nice about it this time. He apologized, saying he didn't know the rules. Let me go on my way. Nothing against the cop, just the T for not informing him.
An arresting image in Newton
By adamg - 10/10/09 - 6:39 am
Owen Byrne reports what happened after he took this photo at the Newton Highlands stop on the Riverside line last night:
T employees more aggressively enforcing non-existent policy against photographers
By adamg - 9/26/09 - 12:04 pmEric Kilby reports:
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.
This comes a couple days after another T worker harassed some poor tourist for daring to take a photo inside Back Bay station.
If the T has suddenly changed its photo policy, you'd think they'd update the online version, no? Oh, wait, this is an agency that's only now updating 40-year-old maps ...
T employee unaware of T photography policy at Back Bay station
By adamg - 9/24/09 - 6:52 amBen Ostrander tweets that around 7:40 this morning:
Saw a tourist with a crappy point & shoot stopped by T employee at Back Bay & told she couldn't do that.
As Ostrander notes, that fall under the category of "Not True." The MBTA's posted photo policy says non-commercial photography is OK - the main limitations are you can't use a flash or tripod and you have to provide ID if requested by a T cop or official.
