Real-time information on train delays, bus route changes and other services critical to millions of New York City commuters will no longer be shared on Twitter because “the reliability of the platform can no longer be assured,” MTA officials said. Four said.
The MTA, North America’s largest mass transit agency, has seen some recent changes under its new owner, Elon Musk, the latest big-name account to make major changes to how it uses its platform. In recent months, Twitter has removed blue checkmarks, dropped content moderation rules and made changes to the algorithm that determines which posts are most viewable. NPR and PBS suspended all Twitter use this month after being designated “government-sponsored media” on the platform, a label that Twitter later removed.
“The MTA has terminated service messaging to Twitter, effective immediately,” said Shanifah Rieara, the agency’s acting chief client officer. said in a press release.
The agency’s access to Twitter through its application programming interface (API) was involuntarily interrupted on April 14 and Thursday, officials said.
last month, twitter New pricing tiers introduced For the MTA, the cost associated with the API for accessing its API is about $50,000 per month, the agency said, adding that it does not pay the technology platform to publish information on the service. Ms Rieara said the same information can be found through the MYmta and TrainTime apps, the MTA’s website, email alerts and text messages.
“Service reminders are also available on thousands of screens in stations, trains and buses,” she said.
On Twitter, the MTA responded to dozens of concerned customers, some of whom questioned the decision. Still, the agency redoubled its efforts. “We love getting to know you here, but we don’t like not knowing if we can communicate with you every day,” the agency in a pinned tweet saying on its feed.
The MTA, which oversees the complex network of subways, buses and commuter rail that links cities together, has seen ridership improve from the early days of the pandemic. In February, more than 84 million subway trips and more than 33 million bus trips were made, about two-thirds of the passenger traffic in February 2019, According to the Office of the City Comptroller.
The MTA says it won’t give up on Twitter entirely. Its account will remain active for branding and other messaging, and customers can continue to tweet on the MTA account, including @mta and @new york subwayFor questions and requests.
The agency appears to be one of the only transportation networks in the world to stop using Twitter to communicate with its customers.
subway operator in madrid, Paris, Singapore and Tokyo As of Friday, they were still providing regular service updates on Twitter.
Mike Ives Contribution report.
