The largest US carrier network will not use Twitter to post service alerts

(CNN) – The largest US carrier network on Thursday suspended the use of Twitter to post service alerts, saying the “reliability of the platform can no longer be guaranteed.”

The metropolitan transit authority, which serves 15.3 million commuters in the 8,000-square-kilometer region surrounding New York City, Long Island, New York state and Connecticut, said its access to Twitter through its API had been inadvertently cut off twice in the past two weeks.

“MTA does not pay technology platforms to publish service information, and has created redundant tools that provide real-time service alerts,” Shenifa Riera, MTA’s acting director of customer service, said in a statement. “These include the MYmta and TrainTime apps, the MTA home page at MTA.info, and email and text message alerts,” he noted.

“Service alerts are also available on thousands of screens in stations, trains and buses,” said Riera. “The MTA has ceased publishing service information on Twitter, effective immediately, as the reliability of the platform can no longer be guaranteed.”

The MTA app will remain active and customers will still be able to tweet on MTA accounts, including @nyct_subway, and get responses, according to the MTA.

— CNN’s Julian Cummings contributed to this report.