Industry Blasts MTA Over New York Subway Photo Ban

Photographers and industry organizations have blasted the Metropolitan Transportation Authority's proposed ban on unauthorized photography on city subways and buses, calling the new move an affront to the right of free speech and expression.

The New York City Transit Authority, a subsidiary of the MTA, last week announced rules which could go into effect after a public-comment period as early as next fall. New York City Transit president Lawrence G. Reuter told The New York Times the changes "are intended to enhance security and safety" for MTA employees and customers.

On May 26, the National Press Photographers Association (NPPA) released a statement saying the new rules are "truly ineffective and hinder working photographers everywhere."

The rules could run afoul of First Amendment since they exempt credentialed press but not members of the general public, businesses and artists. Critics say enforcement of the new rules could subject journalists to the whims of transit officials.

Since its inception a century ago, New York's subway system has attracted news photographers as well as artists and social documentarians. Magnum's Bruce Davidson, whose classic 1986 color monograph Subway was recently reissued by Safari and is currently being exhibited at the Howard Greenberg Gallery, compares the subway to an ever-changing theater production.

"Any time you get into the subway you don't know what the show is going to be," Davidson says. "It's a great environment where all kinds of people are hanging out together."

Pointing to similar restrictions on photography near the city's airports and waterfront areas instituted after 9-11, Davidson says he worries that we're entering into "a climate of hysteria and fear."

Davidson says the transit authority should see professional and amateur photographers as allies.

"The more cameras you have around the greater chance you have to catch the evil guy if he does something bad," Davidson says. "What they should be afraid of is whether our trains are running on time."