I did some busking in Australia and the UK in the 70s and 80s.
I did it because I needed the money. Never alone, always with someone else. Of course it was fun, but it wasn't self-indulgence, we did need the money and we focused on that.
What I learned:
1. Two is more than twice as good as one (just as bratsche says above)
2. A bigger target (open case rather than hat or bowl) gets more money. People won't throw if they think they'll miss. "Salt" the case with some big notes, of course. But not too much.
3. Play for twenty minutes at a time, then take a 5 minute break. Stay fresh.
4. Stand, don't sit. Engage. "Lean forward".
5. requests - hmm. Playing spontaneous requests can be a double-edged sword, but - the regular market we played, we knew the Italian, Greek and Pacific Island stallholders would respond to O Solo Mio, Never on a Sunday and Ten Guitars. (and all asked for "Danny Boy" - go figure) So we played them and got $5 bills, quite good in 1979!
Things have definitely changed, what with prescriptive and proscriptive local government laws (and fees!) and amplification, not to mention hordes of middle-class types who will do for fun what you used to do for a living.
Amplification really exacerbates the "turf wars" since it drastically reduces the number of buskers that can operate in a given space.
There is something else, very important actually:
People are just saturated to the point of resentment with unsolicited music in public places these days, often very loud.
Buskers are most often seen as part of the problem rather than a welcome diversion.
Good luck!
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