The MTA has launched a new text and email alert system bringing real-time service advisories right to the phones of subway, bus and commuter rail customers.
The new system, called MTA Service Alerts, allows riders personalized control over the notifications they get. Users can choose which lines they get alerts for, the specific times they want to receive them, and whether to get alerts through email, text, or both.
“New Yorkers are always on the move, and with MTA Service Alerts, MTA customers will be able to travel confidently with the most current information that may impact their specific journeys,” said Shanifah Rieara, the MTA’s acting Chief Customer Officer. “This new approach to service alerts will ensure that we are communicating directly to customers about relevant service impacts consistently and simply across channels and will provide customers enhanced opportunities to receive timely updates on planned work.”
The new system replaces an earlier “legacy” one called MyMTAAlerts, which launched in 2007 and will still provide updates to users’ phones on elevators, escalators, and bridge and tunnel conditions. There’s also the MyMTA app for subway and bus alerts and the TrainTime app for Metro-North and Long Island Rail Road notifications.
The move comes after a very public spat between the MTA and Twitter over the authority’s real-time service alerts on the social media platform. The MTA ceased its automated subway, bus, and commute rail alerts on Twitter in April after the company, acquired by Elon Musk for $44 billion, started demanding fees from institutional players for accessing the site’s application programming interface.
Twitter had attempted to make accounts like the MTA pay as much as $50,000 per month for the privilege of automating posts, one of many highly controversial moves Musk has made since purchasing the platform. The MTA refused, citing its other service notification platforms, and Twitter caved within a few days.
The MTA is still posting real-time service alerts on Twitter even as the platform finds itself in flux, following a move to limit the number of tweets users can view each day. Twitter’s traffic is now reportedly plummeting as many users flock to the new competitor Threads, which was launched by Meta, Facebook’s parent company.
The MTA opened new accounts on Threads this week, the Daily News reported.
Riders can sign up for MTA Service Alerts at https://cloud.info.mta.org/create-mta-service-alerts
