NEW YORK, NY September 29, 2005 —Panhandlers, subway musicians, and others beware: it's now illegal to walk between the cars of a subway train. WNYC's Dan Blumberg has more on that and other new rules.

REPORTER: Over the past nine years, thirteen people have been killed and more than 100 have been injured after walking through the cars. So now, unless you have a very good reason -- like moving away from a menacing person or a fire -- , you risk a $75 fine for crossing from one car to another.

MTA Chairman Peter Kalikow says the reason for the new rule is clear:

KALIKOW: It's just a preventable accident that we should try and prevent.

REPORTER: The MTA also voted to prohibit riders from putting their feet on the seats. But it softened the rule against putting bags on seats. Now that practice is only illegal if another rider objects.

And in case you didn't already know: drinking from an open beverage container is STILL illegal, even though an attempt to strengthen that rule failed. So far this year, only about 30 people have been fined for that offense. For WNYC, I'm Dan Blumberg.