Passenger Trains > I Will Never Again Complain About Amtrak's Photo Policy

I caught a Greyhound Express schedule out of Chicago the other day. Now I do enjoy taking pictures of trains and I also enjoy taking pictures of buses as well. Used to be you could walk up to the boarding door of a Greyhound station and snap a picture of a bus sitting outside. Well not anymore. I was told in a very rude tone of voice by a Greyhound employee that NO PHOTOGRAPHY is allowed in any Greyhound station. None....nada....zilch. Nothing.

I deleted the pictures at his insistence as I was told that I would be removed from the terminal if I did not. I then went and sat down and awaited them to announce my boarding group. With Greyhound Express nobody has to stand in line. They board by boarding groups such as 1 thru 10 then 11 thru 20. The first person to buy a ticket on a schedule is assigned boarding number 1 and so on.

While waiting a man who had brought his daughter to the bus to travel to Pittsburgh took out his cell phone and took a picture of his daughter and mother together. Another Greyhound employee then came up and told them that Greyhound does not allow any photography on its property. He insisted the man delete the photo. The man refused and was told to leave. Since he was not traveling he left.

It simply amazes me in this day and age that policies like this exist. I have complained about Amtrak's photo policy before but it is light years ahead of Greyhound's.

Keith Hunter
FOREST CITY, IA

Inquire with the Dog's management if that is really a policy.

I did and the policy is as follows. "Photography, video or audio recording of Greyhound personnel, equipment or procedures is strictly prohibited". And equipment includes any part of the interior of the station. This policy is listed on the Greyhound website exactly as stated above.

Keith Hunter
FOREST CITY, IA



Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 07/26/13 16:17 by houstonguy2010.

Then do it out on the sidewalk. They can't say boo on a public street.

The policy indicates news media, motion picture companies, student projects and advertising and marketing firms must obtain permission. Nothing in the policy indicates that individual private citizens or passengers can not take pictures. Time for "picture day" at every Greyhound Terminal and bus stop in the country....who do they think they are--the PATH in New Jersey?

Marty Harrison
Knob Noster, MO



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 07/26/13 16:12 by livesteamer.

houstonguy2010 Wrote:
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> It simply amazes me in this day and age that
> policies like this exist.

These policies will continue to exist as long as everyone so obediently complies with them. Someone needs to challenge these people, even if it means missing a bus or appearing in a court hearing.

We should never forget that everything Adolf Hitler did in Germany was "legal" and everything the Hungarian freedom fighters did in Hungary was "illegal." It was "illegal" to aid and comfort a Jew in Hitler's Germany.

. . . there are two types of laws: just and unjust. I would be the first to advocate obeying just laws. One has not only a legal but a moral responsibility to obey just laws. Conversely, one has a moral responsibility to disobey unjust laws. I would agree with St. Augustine that "an unjust law is no law at all."

Excerpts from Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.'s "Letter from a Birmingham Jail"

In its entirety, it's a good read.

http://photographyisnotacrime.com/



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 07/26/13 16:23 by CA_Sou_MA_Agent.

Yes, it is silly since many people can take an infinite number of photos with a cell phone without anyone even noticing.

His quote sounds pretty succinct: "Photography, video or audio recording of Greyhound personnel, equipment or procedures is strictly prohibited". Doesn't say anything there about exceptions for individuals. I suppose they can make up whatever rules they want on private property.

PATH is in the public sector. Their rules may be illegal, but nobody has taken them to task, though Don Philips is now onto them.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 07/26/13 16:29 by joemvcnj.

Many supermarkets have similar policies stated on signs by the entrance.

Bill Deaver
Tehachapi, CA

joemvcnj Wrote:
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> I suppose they can make up whatever
> rules they want on private property.

Whether it's private or public property, the fact that it's a bus station, open and intended for the traveling public's use, would probably establish limits as to what sort of arbitrary and capricious rules they can impose on a whim. It has to be reasonable. Under your theory, what would stop Greyhound tomorrow from saying that people entering the bus waiting room will not be able to wear white socks? Or, that all women must have bleached blond hair? A judge or jury might have to decide, and soon, what the limits are for taking pictures in an environment where the general public is invited by a private company to occupy.

I just went to the site, that photography ban is very specifically an "on board restriction." It is listed under things you should not do while on board a bus.

Here's something I ran across that touches on the topic of taking pictures from a Greyhound bus. Graham Hughes, a 33-year-old British adventurer, has managed to visit all of the countries of the world without flying to get to them. No one else has apparently done that, so he is also a Guinness record holder.

http://www.theodysseyexpedition.com/

Here's what he had to say about his Greyhound experience:

07.03.09:

USA! USA! Not far to go now. I’ve got to say, the Greyhound buses ARE THE WORST FORM OF TRANSPORT IN THE WORLD – grotty, no films, no snacks, grumpy-as-hell drivers…

My first driver actually got pulled by the police for speeding!

My second driver told me off for filming out of the window. Seriously.

Seriously.

Had I not just come from the CHEAPER air-conned, hosted, free snack giving, European arthouse-film screening Latin American buses, I might consider this behaviour a little odd. As it is, it disgusts me. America deserves better.

Rail content: He rode VIA's OCEAN from Montreal to Halifax.

Several states have taken advantage of federal Department of Homeland Security protocols to pass laws placing critical transportation assets off limits to photography. Exactly what constitutes "critical" varies considerably.

I was stopped by a Pinellas county deputy at the Port of Tampa a few years ago in exactly that situation. I was taking pictures of the Kinder Morgan locomotives at the ethanol / grain terminal. Public road inside the port.

The deputy was very nice, but he ran my papers, etc. Didn't detain me more than 15 minutes or so, but asked me not to take any pictures inside the port district. And, cited the law by code statute.

I asked my Florida lawyer to look into the situation, and he confirmed Florida does have a law that prohibits unauthorized pictures in designated port districts, electric generating and transmission facilities, pipeline assets, or airports. The law is used more as a stop and frisk opportunity, he said, offering police a probable cause. It's been discussed here on TrainOrders a few times.

It wouldn't surprise me in the slightest if NJ has a similar law. The Port Authority has similar warnings against photography, sketching, drawing, etc inside the Port Authority Bus Terminal in NY.

These types of situations are tough if you have other plans that you have to take care of (like taking the bus somewhere).

It's great when you can just say, "Fine, call the police," and shut them down. But sometimes life gets in the way.

Reminds me of the time a colleague and I were in Laughlin, Nev. on a work assigment. We had taken a lunch break and were heading to a casino buffet to "put on the feedbag". My buddy had his camera along and took it out to get a photo of the interior of the casino. Faster than you can say "Eastman Kodak", two casino employees materialized beside him, and one of them said (in a courteous but very firm tone), "Sir, photography is not permitted in here." And the camera was put away without further comment. This isn't quite analogous, a casino is definitely private property, while some bus stations are owned by public entities.

Here's a couple of photos that I took when a Greyhound I was riding through Nebraska in 1977 had a wheel problem. Not something that Doggie Bus would want to put in their promotional materials. The wheel was cracked around the mounting studs; had we been on I-80 instead of doing local stops on US 30 it might have been a disaster instead of a delay.

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Take a photo with your phone, email it to yourself, then delete the photo for him...

dumb unenforceable policy...

Cool! Give me an MC8 any day! That's a great shot with the DX sign in the background.

I didn't notice until the full size photo displayed: Gas for 62.5 cents a gallon, and the S&H Green Stamps sign.

That's back when Greyhound was decent outfit.
If you don't have a Smartphone (I do not), hold up the cellphone and make like you're texting.
Take your picture then quickly pull the disk out. When they say to delete photo, show your photos, and say, what photos, nothing here ?



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 07/26/13 18:16 by joemvcnj.

These are the cases when someone wearing a Google Glass or one of those spy ballcaps would be really useful.