Tag Archives: MTA Rules of Conduct

2014 MUNY Auditions

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Yesterday, Music Under New York held its 27th annual auditions in Grand Central Terminal’s Vanderbilt Hall. About 20 acts out of the 60 contestants will be chosen by a panel of 35 judges to be added to the MUNY roster. The auditions lasted five minutes each over the course of about six hours, and winners will be announced within the next few weeks.

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We asked MUNY manager Lydia Bradshaw to make sure the legality of freelance busking was mentioned during this year’s auditions. Kalan and I attended the first few hours of the auditions to find out if our requests had been honored as well as to see some of the performances, and MUNY turned out to be quite supportive of our cause. We were unexpectedly invited into the press area where we found that MUNY had included a highlighted copy of MTA rule 1050.6 in the press packets for the event.

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Every reporter covering the auditions has one of these.

We stuck around to see the first 20 performers, and I managed to get close enough to get clear shots of most of them:


Based on some of the articles we’ve seen so far, not every member of the press has actually read everything in the packet, since some still conflate MUNY membership with a general busking license. BuskNY has been largely successful, however, when asking the authors of such articles to make corrections. If only informing the NYPD and general public that busking is legal were that easy!

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Megan Gillis rolling her xylophone out after a really excellent performance.

But back to the auditions themselves: we’ll be looking forward to finding out who wins, and hope to run into all sixty of the contestants performing in the subway soon.

7/31: Rules pamphlets located

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The saga is over! An official pamphlet of the MTA Rules of Conduct can be obtained in Brooklyn at 29 Gallatin Place, 3rd floor, on the rack outside the elevator.  (This is, I’m told, the same place one goes to contest a summons).

By the way, you can take as many as you’d like. That’s precisely what I did:

Rules of Conduct
I’ll be delivering these while making the rounds, so that we don’t each have to hike out to Brooklyn. (Speaking of which, I gave out the first two t-shirts today. Find me soon to get yours!)

 

 

7/30: Rules pamphlets: Update

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Update 7/31: Further detective work has uncovered a new lead on pamphlets in downtown Brooklyn. The crack BuskNY team is headed over to investigate and will let you know if pamphlets are found.

Two weeks ago, I wrote a post on how to request an MTA rules pamphlet. This was important to be able to demonstrate to MTA officials and to police what the rules say, and it also makes a visual impact when it’s sitting in the case.

As a matter of fact, this booklet is even recommended by the NYPD’s own crime prevention page:

“All persons who are interested in performing on the subway and who wish to avoid violating the law are strongly advised to contact New York City Transit beforehand to get a copy of the Rules of Conduct, as well as a more complete explanation of their requirements.”

When I wrote that post, I submitted my own new request for the booklet through MTA.info to check if the process was working. Four days later, on 7/22, I received this response:

“We truly appreciate your interest in New York City Transit.  The information you requested may be available under the Freedom of Information Law (FOIL).  You must submit an electronic FOIL request to the appropriate MTA Agency via the FOIL Request page on the MTA web site.  If you send an electronic FOIL request in any other way or to the wrong agency, you will not receive the records you are seeking.  You may submit an electronic FOIL request at http://new.mta.info//foil.htm.  Be sure to select the appropriate MTA Agency.”

This was not what’s supposed to happen — but I went ahead and completed a FOIL request addressed to MTA Headquarters. Two days later, on 7/24, I received this response:

“In response to your FOIL request, below is the link from the MTA website  for the New York City Transit Rules of Conduct
http://www.mta.info/nyct/rules/TransitAdjudicationBureau/rules.htm
This completes the MTA’s response to your FOIL request.”

I replied that I needed a physical copy of the booklet, and was immediately emailed a phone number to call the woman I was emailing with. I called, and she said that I should go to the New York Transit Authority building at 130 Livingston St., Brooklyn to get a copy in person. I took down the address, and although things were interrupted by my arrest, I got down there yesterday on the 29th:

NYTA Building

I walked in, but to no avail: the check-in staff told me they had never even heard such a question before and couldn’t tell me where to go. And without a specific office to go to, I wasn’t even allowed in the building.

Fortunately, I’m not easily dissuaded. I called up the MTA representative I had spoken with before, and she said she could call around to find out. She then emailed back with this:

“I called someone at New York City Transit; she has a Rules of Conduct booklet dated 2005 (which I am told is the most recent); if you want to pick it up, you can call [redacted] or she can mail it to you.”

I called the new number, gave my address, and was told that the pamphlet will be mailed out. “In fact, it’s my very last copy,” she said. “Wait, then I have another question,” I said. “I know a number of other musicians who need this pamphlet, and one has already told me that mta.info responds that the supply is exhausted. Who can we call?”

She was unsure.

I emailed back the MTA representative from before, explained about the warning on the NYPD site, and asked if she was aware of any remaining stock of pamphlets. She said she would inquire. Three hours later, she replied with this:

“I am told that the Rules of Conduct brochure has not been printed for several years.  The link you provided to me is from the NYPD website, which does not appear to be up-to-date.  The Rules of Conduct on the MTA website are current.  I was also informed that abbreviated rules are posted in some stations on the front of station booths.”

Now, I am not sure if she’s aware that officers routinely ignore home-printed rules on 8.5×11.” I do assume she’s aware that we are not allowed to play in front of station booths where the abbreviated rules are posted. But in any case, I wrote back with this:

“The link I provided is dated 2013.”

I haven’t heard back yet, but I’ll keep pushing. In the meantime, I’d invite anyone who’s filed a request and had it turned down to drop me an email so I can get a rough count. Again: it is NOT fair for the NYPD to request a pamphlet that cannot be obtained.

18/7: How to request the MTA rules booklet

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Update: we eventually found a source of official MTA rules pamphlets. They’re available in Downtown Brooklyn at the Transit Adjudication Bureau. The address is 29 Gallatin Place, and the pamphlets are on the 3rd floor on the rack outside the elevator.

Lately we’ve been picking up an increased amount of traffic from Google. Don’t worry, we’re not talking about a flood of thousands yet! But there is definitely targeted traffic coming from buskers — and indeed, last night I got an email with a question specifically on busking legality.

So, like I mentioned yesterday, we’re planning to post more tips and resources for musicians, all the way from macro (class-action suit, you say?) to micro. Today’s subject is how to get your hands on a official booklet version of the MTA Rules of Conduct.

Many of you have seen me walking around, doing my folk-lawyer act, with my trusty blue-and-white booklet of the MTA Rules of Conduct. In fact, I often have it lying in my case while I perform:

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It’s pretty visible, and it may remind transit officers doing routine station-checks that my work is permitted. Who knows — maybe having it out even provides a measure of protection to other buskers? And on a more pragmatic note, I suspect it may even make me a teensy bit more money. We all know where our priorities are!

To request a booklet, go to the MTA online comment tool. You can choose from several categories of request, and I believe either “MTA-wide” or “MTA Police (non-emergency only)” would be a good bet. Then, just write that you’d like to have a copy sent to you, and include your mailing address. You’ll receive a booklet in about two weeks.

Want two copies, to create the much-desired akimbo justice effect? Just ask a friend to submit his or her own request! When it comes to law, the more, the merrier.