Twitter No Longer Reliable for MTA Service Alerts
The Metropolitan Transportation Authority of New York has decided to stop posting service alerts and updates on Twitter, citing concerns about the platform’s reliability. Instead, the MTA is encouraging its riders to use its website, mobile apps, or email and mobile alerts to stay up to date on service changes and disruptions.
In a series of tweets on Thursday evening, the MTA account expressed its appreciation for its followers on Twitter but also stated that the platform is no longer dependable enough to provide consistent updates that riders expect. The MTA has therefore made the decision to say goodbye to Twitter as a channel for service alerts and information.
The MTA acknowledged that this decision represents a significant shift in its communication strategy. A separate MTA service account provided more context in a follow-up tweet, suggesting that the agency’s access to publish service alerts on Twitter had been suspended twice in recent weeks. To address this, the MTA is encouraging riders to reach out to operators via WhatsApp and iMessage for the latest information on service disruptions.
Earlier in the month, the MTA experienced disruptions to its automated service alerts, along with other accounts like San Francisco’s Bay Area Rapid Transit and disaster alert accounts. This was due to changes in Twitter’s API, which temporarily locked these accounts out of posting service updates as part of Twitter owner Elon Musk’s initiative to charge for API access. Although the MTA did not specifically cite this issue, the platform has also become more volatile due to confusion over Musk’s paid verification rollout, which has made it difficult for users to discern which accounts are trustworthy.
This is an unfortunate situation for riders, as service alerts have been one of the most consistently helpful features that Twitter has provided until recently. While the MTA’s alternative communication options may be able to fill the gap left by Twitter, this loss is felt by both the agency and the microblogging platform. As of now, the MTA has not joined Dril and Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez on Bluesky, a new decentralized social media platform.
