Real-time train delays, bus route changes, and other service information vital to millions of New York City commuters will no longer be shared on Twitter because the “platform reliability is no longer guaranteed.” . said Thursday.
North America’s largest public transit agency, the MTA, is the latest big-name account to make significant adjustments to how it uses its platform after recent changes under new owner Elon Musk. In recent months, Twitter has removed the blue check mark, tossed content moderation rules, and tinkered with the algorithms that determine which posts get the most views. NPR and PBS stopped all use of Twitter this month after being designated “government-funded media” on their platforms, although Twitter later removed the label.
“The MTA immediately stopped posting service information to Twitter,” said Shanifah Rieara, MTA’s Acting Chief Customer Officer. said in a news release.
Access to Twitter through the application programming interface was unintentionally suspended on April 14 and Thursday, officials said, according to the agency.
Agencies do not pay fees to technology platforms to publish service information. Rieara said it can also be found through the MYmta and TrainTime apps, the MTA’s website, email alerts and text messages.
“Service alerts are also available on thousands of screens in stations, trains and buses,” she said.
The MTA did not immediately respond to a request for comment early Friday.
On Twitter, the MTA responded to dozens of concerned customers, some of whom questioned the decision. Still, the agency doubled. “I’m itching to hear about On Here, but I hate not knowing if I’ll be able to reach you every day,” the agency said. said on pinned tweet in that feed.
Passenger numbers for the MTA, which oversees the complex network of subways, buses and commuter rail lines that connect cities, have improved since the early days of the pandemic. There were over 84 million subway rides and over 33 million bus trips in February, about two-thirds of the ridership in February 2019. According to the city regulator.
The MTA said it would not completely abandon Twitter. That account remains active for branding and other messaging, and customers can continue to Tweet with their MTA account containing @.mta and @nyctsubway Any questions or requests?
The agency appears to be one of the only transit networks in the world to stop using Twitter to communicate with customers.
of subway operators Madrid, Paris, Singapore and Tokyo is one of the companies still providing regular service updates on Twitter as of Friday.
Mike Ives contributed to the report.
