Rethinking Twitter for Transit Alerts

Transit agencies need to rethink whether and how Twitter fits into their service alerts strategy. 

The news that the NY MTA stopped posting alerts on Twitter (and then resumed when Twitter agreed to give transit agencies free access) sparked a discussion in the transit community that I think has been a long time coming. Even if access remains free, I have major concerns about the platform’s reliability, content moderation, and audience metrics.

Even when I had “social media” in my job title and was responsible for VTA’s Twitter strategy, I never understood why a platform used by so few people should get so much attention. 

It’s not even that great a place to reach transit riders. Only about 23% of Americans said they ever used Twitter in 2021, a number that has been flat for many years. Those users skew higher income, the opposite of transit riders overall.

So What’s the Alternative?

I recommend three steps:

1. Start with GTFS-realtime Service Alerts
2. Shift to more popular channels such as SMS, trip planning apps, and your website
3. Own your audience

Focus on GTFS-Realtime

If you start with alerts that follow the GTFS-realtime Service Alerts data standard, you’ll have more flexibility to adapt to changes in technology and customer needs.

A tool like SimplifyTransit Alerts can publish not only to social media, but more importantly to Google Maps, the Transit app, your website, SMS, email and digital signs.

SMS is Way More Popular

About 80% of Americans use text messages. People get text alerts for deliveries, medical appointments, flights, and confirmation codes to log into their bank. 

They’re very immediate and get your attention. They don’t require good Internet connectivity, so they’re more accessible for people with lower incomes or in rural areas.

In fact, SMS rider alerts are so popular that some major transit agencies are paying exorbitant fees for legacy services that don’t do a good enough job targeted texts because they aren’t designed for transit. ‍

SimplifyTransit Subscriptions minimizes SMS costs with more granular personalization and targeting, automated list cleaning, and pay-as-you-go pricing.

Own Your Audience

Sure, social networks have large audiences for you to reach (not Twitter per se, but YouTube, Facebook, Instagram and TikTok).

But relying on them means you’re dependent on their algorithm, you have to rise above the noise and advertising, and you don’t truly own your relationship with that customer.

Instead, SimplifyTransit Subscriptions lets you send SMS and email alerts directly to your customers, building a relationship with each of them. No algorithm or advertising in the way. You own their contact information and engagement data, not us.

SimplifyTransit’s Twitter Strategy

Now that Twitter is charging for SimplifyTransit to publish tweets on our customers’ behalf, when their API has always been free, we’re probably going to have to charge new customers extra for Twitter posting.

We also don’t know what’s coming next for Twitter.

Elon Musk has gutted its infrastructure teams to the point that I question the stability of that API (which we now have to pay for). I question Twitter’s ability to maintain control over the “health” of the content on its platform and prevent abuse.

I expect Twitter’s audience to decline, if it hasn’t already. 

Tell me what you think in the comments:

• Should transit agencies move away from Twitter for rider alerts?
• What are you experiencing and planning at your agency?