The Metropolitan Transportation Authority (MTA) has suspended the use of Twitter for service alerts, citing unreliability of the platform as the cause. The MTA’s access to Twitter through its API was involuntarily interrupted twice in the last two weeks, on April 14 and again on April 27.
The New York City transportation authority says customers will continue to be able to tweet at all MTA accounts, including @nyct_subway, with questions and requests for help as they have before, and those requests will continue to receive responses. The @MTA account will also remain active for branding and other messaging.
“The MTA does not pay tech platforms to publish service information and has built redundant tools that provide service alerts in real time,” Chief Customer Officer, Shanifah Rieara said in a statement. “Those include the MYmta and TrainTime apps, the MTA’s homepage at MTA.info, email alerts and text messages. Service alerts are also available on thousands of screens in stations, on trains and in buses. The MTA has terminated posting service information to Twitter, effective immediately, as the reliability of the platform can no longer be guaranteed.”