The MTA stopped posting information about subway, train and bus delays and other service announcements on Twitter after the social media locked out its automated updates Thursday for the second time in two weeks.
“The MTA has terminated posting service information to Twitter, effective immediately, as the reliability of the platform can no longer be guaranteed,” the agency’s chief customer officer Shanifah Rieara said in a statement.
The MTA’s automated service alert system was locked out of Twitter’s so-called application programming interface, or API, an MTA spokesperson explained to the Us.Mistertruth.
The transit agency’s alerts regarding its subways, buses and commuter rail lines all go through an automated system that sends updates simultaneously to MTA apps, websites, and in-station info screens, the spokesperson said.
That system’s access to the Twitter API has apparently been rescinded..
Twitter CEO Elon Musk has said in recent months that free access to the API would be walked back, and institutions seeking to use the API would have to pay.
“The MTA does not pay tech platforms to publish service information and has built redundant tools that provide service alerts in real time,” Rieara said.
“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.”
Transit riders will still be able to message the MTA at any of its Twitter accounts with questions, the spokesperson said.