Busking IS legal in subway stations. Here are the rules.

Plus: five rats, one slice of pizza [FORWARD TO A FRIEND]( [VIEW IN BROWSER]( [DONATE]( [WNYC Politics Brief] The busker's dilemma: What's allowed and what's not for subway performers Plus: Congestion pricing appears to be back on track. New York lawmakers are pushing to make mass transit a "sensitive place" where guns won't be allowed. And the pizza rats are at it again. Sponsor Message[Ad: NYC Means Business. Click here to find options to help you shop your city.]( --------------------------------------------------------------- 🚆 --------------------------------------------------------------- [a busker dances with a skeleton in a subway station] David Giambusso/Gothamist Some subway performers are reevaluating their venue of choice after [a video of the "Dancing is Happiness" saxophonist]( John Ajilo, getting arrested at the 34th St Herald Square station went viral earlier this week. "I don’t want to be down there again," said 20-year-old Davishmar Hicks, who has been playing his saxophone throughout the system periodically since he was sixteen. While Hicks said the video of Ajilo was "sickening" — especially since Ajilo has always been kind to him when it comes to sharing performance real estate in the subway — Hicks still knows that his rights to play in the terminal are "pretty clear, but there are some blurred lines." While there are a lot of rules for subway performers, there is also more leeway than one might imagine, according to the MTA and interviews conducted by Gothamist with a lawyer advocates, and subway buskers. The problem: Police themselves are often unaware of the regulations. "One time I showed the rules to an officer who stopped me and he told me I had photoshopped it," said Nigel Dunkley, a busking puppeteer. Here are some of the more important rights and regulations Gothamist was able to verify for the crooners, jazz combos and steel drummers of the MTA. Do I need a permit to perform? No. Every musician has the legal right to perform in the subway stations, according to the MTA’s website and court rulings — though the practice was still illegal until the 1980s. The People v. Manning case in 1985 was the first to provide First and Fourteenth Amendment protections to subway performers in New York City. According to court documents, a folk guitarist, Roger Manning, was given a summons for playing on the platform of the BMT line at 59th St and Lexington Avenue. Manning challenged the ticket and won in court. The reason why some performers and police officers may be under the impression that permits are needed is because the MTA has a specific program, Music Under New York, which was started in 1985 after the court decision. MUNY holds auditions, gives performers an orientation on safety protocol and hands out pink banners to their selected artists for display. The banner is not a permit, but it can play the role of signaling to police or MTA workers that these performers have a stamp of approval. Advocacy groups, like BuskNY, have criticized the banners for making performers without them feel more targeted by police. Where can’t I perform? Performing in a subway car is prohibited, according to the MTA’s rules of Conduct and Fines. Showtimers, doo-woopers, guitarists: all technically not allowed on the cars. If they step back out onto the platform, then yes, they are allowed to perform there. But — and here is where throwing a tape measure into your guitar case could come in handy — buskers are not permitted within 25 feet of a station booth. Less than 50 feet from an authority tower or office? Not allowed. Don’t set up in front of elevators, escalators, or stairs (even though they do make for a fantastic way to dramatize a ballad or guitar solo) — any place where a performer could be interpreted as "impeding transit services or the movement of passengers." Also, do not set up by maintenance or construction areas. Can I use speakers? One attorney said just don’t use them. They are technically allowed, just not on subway platforms (acoustic music is ok there). They can’t be excessively loud or be used during public service announcements. There are also volume restrictions: “Any sound in excess of 85 dBA on the A weighted scale, measured at five feet from the source of the sound or 70 dBA measured at two feet from a station booth.” Roughly translated, that's between the sound of a loud hair dryer and street traffic. Can I ask for money? Explicitly panhandling is not allowed, but peppering a guitar case or hat with some dollars hoping it prompts commuters to throw some change in there is allowed. Some advocacy groups recommend putting up a sign with your Venmo or Cashapp to protect against theft. What should I do if I am stopped? Even if you know you are in the right, under the MTA’s Rules of Conduct and Fines, anyone in the subway system has to comply with directives from "any police officer, peace officer or any employee of the authority or the MTA acting within the scope of their employment." This means moving performance locations or giving identification. Attorneys say performers should comply, especially on the subway platform, where death or injury can occur. But one attorney said it's important to document everything, as there are strong legal precedents for subway performers to [successfully sue](. — [Reporting by Emily Lang]( --------------------------------------------------------------- Sponsor Message [Ad: NYC Means Business. Click here to find options to help you shop your city.] --------------------------------------------------------------- 🚆 --------------------------------------------------------------- Congestion pricing is back on track, again [a traffic jam on Canal Street] Chris Hondros/Getty Images The MTA’s congestion pricing plan is moving forward, once again, after the transit agency was [unexpectedly saddled]( with more than 400 follow-up questions from federal officials back in March. At the MTA's monthly board meeting on Wednesday, Chair Janno Lieber confirmed that after more than three months of work, the MTA had answered all of the questions about how the environment might be impacted if it charges drivers a fee to enter Manhattan below 60th Street. But once the Federal Highway Administration approves the MTA’s environmental assessment, the agency will still have a long way to go. It must conduct more public outreach, install devices to collect the tolls and set a price that will ultimately raise $1 billion a year in revenue. Mayor Eric Adams, who gets to nominate one member to the MTA’s six-person Traffic Mobility Review Board that will help determine the cost of tolls and if there are any exemptions, suggested yesterday that low income New Yorkers shouldn't have to pay the tolls in some instances, such as if they're driving in for a doctor’s appointment. The law already exempts Manhattan residents that live in the congestion zone and earn less than $60,000 a year from the charges, as well as emergency vehicles and vehicles that transport paratransit riders. Currently, the MTA said it expects congestion pricing will go into effect by the end of 2023. — [Reporting by Stephen Nessen]( --------------------------------------------------------------- 🚆 --------------------------------------------------------------- Here's What Else Is Happening Gov. Kathy Hochul said she plans to ban guns on public transportation, following the Supreme Court ruling that could make it easier to carry a concealed weapon in public. By labeling trains, buses and transit stations "sensitive places," Hochul and state lawmakers expect to maintain laws barring people from carrying guns on mass transit. Schools, government buildings and health facilities are also likely to be designated "sensitive places" — a concept that Justice Clarence Thomas endorsed in his opinion that otherwise struck down New York's strict laws around concealed carry permits. ([Gothamist]( The Department of Transportation said it supports a City Council bill to create a Greenways Master Plan. Transportation Department Chair Ydanis Rodriguez said this week that he and Mayor Eric Adams support a bill that would lead to a formal plan to fill in the gaps of New York City's 100 miles of greenway. Cyclist advocates also praised the bill for moving responsibility of the greenway network from the city planning department — which doesn't have the authority to build things — to the transportation and parks departments. ([Streetsblog]( The MTA still doesn't want to open subway station bathrooms. With the mayor pushing for a mass return to offices, Manhattan Borough President Mark Levine is urging the MTA to open the restrooms that have remained closed since the start of the pandemic. But the transit agency said it doesn't want to open bathrooms because doing so would require diverting cleaning crews away from subway platforms. "The MTA ... will not compromise the safety of its riders and staff by opening public bathrooms at a time when resources are not available to also provide bathrooms with necessary cleaning and security," a spokesperson said. ( [AM New York]( Half a million more New Yorkers are eligible for half-priced MetroCards, but the city's budget doesn't cover expanding the program to all of them. Of the roughly 800,000 New York City residents living at or below the poverty line, only 273,000 are enrolled in the Fair Fares program, which provides city-funded half-priced MetroCards. But the Adams administration only budgeted $75 million for the program for the coming fiscal year, which economists say isn't enough if sign-ups boom. "If enrollment increases by 5% per month, we are not going to have enough funds,” said Debipriya Chatterjee, an economist at the Community Service Society of New York. ( [NY Daily News]( Behold five rats fighting over one slice. After a late-night partier threw a slice of pizza on the 3rd Avenue subway station platform earlier this week, one enterprising straphanger made sure to film the ensuing melee (or celebration?) between five rats that all wanted in. ([New York Post]( --------------------------------------------------------------- 🚆 --------------------------------------------------------------- And Finally: A corner in Queens that's dedicated to a Yankee [The family of Phil "Scooter" Rizzuto during the renaming ceremony] Charles Lan Famed Yankees shortstop and radio announcer Phil "Scooter" Rizzuto now has a street corner named after him at 64th Street and 78th Avenue in Glendale, where he grew up playing stickball, slapball, boxball, punchball, and other variations of in-the-middle-of-the-road baseball. Rizzuto played 13 years for the Yankees, winning seven World Series Championships and nine American League Pennants. During that time, he took a three-season break to serve in the Navy during World War II. After retiring from playing, he went on to a 40-year career as the Yankees game announcer, developing the trademark of shouting "Holy Cow" after home runs. The Yankee great grew up in Queens as the son of a trolley driver, and started playing baseball at PS 68 and later starred at Richmond Hill High School. The corner renaming was arranged by Christina Wilkinson, president of the Newtown Historical Society. She gathered the petitions to get the corner renamed after him. "He’s probably the most famous person from this entire area," Wilkinson said, "so it’s long overdue." — [Reporting by Charles Lane]( --------------------------------------------------------------- 🚆 --------------------------------------------------------------- [Ad: NYC Means Business. Click here to find options to help you shop your city.]( Sponsor Message Support WNYC + Gothamist Make a donation to support local, independent journalism. Your contributions are our largest source of funding and pays for essential election coverage and more. 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