MTA halts service alerts on Twitter due to reliability issues and cost

THE LARGEST TRANSPORTATION NETWORK IN NORTH AMERICA IS STOPPING ITS SERVICE ALERTS ON TWITTER.

THE MTA SERVES 15.3 MILLION PEOPLE IN NEW YORK AND CONNECTICUT. IT RUNS NEW YORK CITY TRANSIT, THE LONG ISLAND RAIL ROAD, METRO-NORTH, AND BRIDGES AND TUNNELS.

IN A STATEMENT, THE MTA’S ACTING CHIEF CUSTOMER, SHANIFAH RIEARA, SAID THEIR ACCESS TO TWITTER THROUGH ITS APPLICATION PROGRAMMING INTERFACE—OR API—WAS INVOLUNTARILY INTERRUPTED TWICE IN THE LAST TWO WEEKS.

REIARA SAID: “THE RELIABILITY OF THE PLATFORM CAN NO LONGER BE GUARANTEED.”

EVIDENTLY, OTHER CHANGES AT TWITTER ALSO CONTRIBUTED TO THE MTA’S DECISION. TWITTER HAD ASKED THE MTA TO PAY $50,000 A MONTH TO ACCESS THE API.

REIARA SAID, “THE MTA DOES NOT PAY TECH PLATFORMS TO PUBLISH SERVICE INFORMATION AND HAS BUILT REDUNDANT TOOLS THAT PROVIDE SERVICE ALERTS IN REAL TIME.” 

INSTEAD OF TWITTER, THE MTA IS TELLING RIDERS TO CHECK ITS WEBSITE, APPS, EMAIL AND MOBILE ALERTS FOR SERVICE UPDATES.

TWITTER ALSO STARTED TAKING BLUE CHECK MARKS AWAY FROM LEGACY VERIFIED ACCOUNTS OVER THE LAST FEW WEEKS, SO THOSE ACCOUNTS ARE FACING THE DECISION OF WHETHER TO PAY FOR A SUBSCRIPTION OR NOT. 

IT’S BEEN ABOUT 6 MONTHS SINCE ELON MUSK PURCHASED TWITTER FOR $44 BILLION. ACCORDING TO PLATFORMER AND THE INFORMATION REPORTS OF AN INTERNAL EMAIL, MUSK SAYS TWITTER IS NOW WORTH $20 BILLION—LESS THAN HALF OF WHAT HE PAID FOR IT.