Sir, not in the station…

Apparently one is not allowed to take photographs inside ‘T’ stations. Riding the Red Line into Boston this morning, I transferred at the Park St. station. In the waiting area for the outbound Green Line were four soldiers, dressed in fatigues with ‘MP’ armbands. They were armed. And I tried to take their picture:

Comments from readers...

AlanLooks like you did take their picture. Are you now being chased by them and you do not know it or is the US military content in letting people just get one snapshot then move on?

PERMALINK POSTED JUL 27, 2004 AT 14:13 AST BY Alan 

Edward HasbrouckThere's been a long, ongoing discussion (mostly by completely and manifestly harmless railfans) of the MBTA photo policies on Usenet in the "ne.transportation" (ne=New England) newsgroup.

PERMALINK POSTED JUL 27, 2004 AT 14:57 AST BY Edward Hasbrouck ()

steveThere was a fellow in Montreal arrested and detained without charge recently for taking photos in the Metro. He was held for 10 hours, interrogated by transit police, Montreal Police, and the RCMP. He was asked about his religious beliefs and possible terrorist connections before being released without charge.

There are no laws or rules against taking photos in the metro.

I interviewed him for CBC and the transit commission verified that the story was true, but they offered no further explanation or apology.

PERMALINK POSTED JUL 27, 2004 AT 20:40 AST BY steve  ()

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