Ari Weinberg

Busking 2.0

Working New York’s streets and subways is becoming more difficult.

As consumers shift their spending to plastic, pockets are naked of bills and coins. No more dollars for the erhu player. No more pennies for the homeless.

And yet, the pitch endures. Organists set up shop in the subway, dropping a few coins and bills in their case to give the appearance that someone before has already appreciated their talents. Panhandlers still ask for change, even pennies, to get something to eat.

It’s almost heartbreaking. And it’s time to move forward.

As far as I can tell, the most recent innovations by street performers and panhandlers are more than a decade old. CDs produced on home computers or cut-rate studios gave passers-by something to remember you. And the United Homeless Organization created a platform for a new (and dubious) homeless pitch.

It’s time to get on the plastic bandwagon. Ingenico or VeriFone, with the cooperation of a bank, should set up a wireless network for panhandlers and buskers to accept credit and debit cards.

Just think of the ease of use. Enter an amount, swipe your card and enter a pin.

You’ve just authorized $1.50 for The Naked Cowboy! And there’s even documentation in case you want to aggregate your donations to the homeless for a tax write-off.

In order to cut down on transaction costs, there would be citywide batch processing and ACH to tranfer to affiliated bank accounts or debit cards.

Then again, such a system would make trackable the enterprise of scofflaws and subterfuge. Considering the complexity and hassle this would entail, buskers and panhandlers would be resistent to such drastic change.

And so, it’s back to change.