I used to drive through Lincoln Tunnel almost every weekend, getting onto the streets of New York City for weekend street photography. The journey from Florham Park in New Jersey to New York City Port Authority Bus Terminus took about an hour, and was as mundane as it could get.
Using cell phones, I learnt the hard way, was not allowed on these government transit busses. A driver once stopped and called the police on me because I had to use my phone for an urgent call from work.
Well, I got used to chatting up with the driver. Not every driver was the talking type, but every once in a while I would get a driver who would talk.
The Lincoln Tunnel connects Weehawken in New Jersey to Manhattan in New York City. It serves close to a billion vehicles each year. Security is paramount, and I did not know this, but photography is not allowed inside the tunnel for good reasons.
In one such trip, as soon as I got off the bus in Manhattan, I was escorted by a couple of policemen in plain clothes. I was told that the driver had alerted them of “someone taking pictures” and I was questioned for about half an hour to prove my innocence.
This is back in 2011. So while New York City police was still very strict when it came to safety issues, the situation was not as bad as it is now in 2022!