MTA launches text message alerts

A delay on the subway could be a disaster for Lyndsay Clark, 23, an eighth grade teacher from Rego Park who rides the F train into work every day.
“If I don’t get the right train, I would be late, and I can’t be too late,” she said.
The Metropolitan Transit Authority (MTA) hopes a new text messaging alert system launched the day before Thanksgiving will help benefit Clark and her fellow commuters.
Inspired by the August 2007 subway disruptions caused by massive flooding, riders can sign up at the MTA’s website to receive messages about planned or unplanned delays on any combination of subway lines, bus routes, rail lines and bridges or tunnels.
Riders can also choose whether they want to receive them at certain times of a day of week - such as the rush hour commute - or anytime there is a delay. The MTA will not charge for the service, but customers will incur standard incoming text messaging rates.
It is unclear how many customers signed up for the service during the first week, and MTA spokesperson Aaron Donovan said the first week had some “hiccups,” but he expects the program will have a great impact on the MTA’s reliability and quality of service.
MIS Science Corporation sends the text and email messages for the MTA, for a contracted fee of $10,000 per month for unlimited messages. Donovan said he did not see this cost being a casualty in the MTA’s budget crunches in the immediate future.
Meanwhile, City Councilmember John Liu, the Chair of the Council’s Transportation Committee, said he himself would sign up for the program, but he hoped it is the first step in helping to make the MTA more reliable.
“What’s really necessary is for the MTA to move quicker and get the cell signal into subway tunnels and platforms,” Liu said. “When people are already on the ground, they won’t be able to get signals, unless the MTA could guarantee people would never be stuck on trains.”
Donovan said the MTA is continuing to work toward cell phone service at the 277 underground subway stations, and the MTA already offers an email alert system for New York City transit delays, Long Island Rail Road and the Metro-North Railroad.
Forest Hills resident Jennie Guilfoyle, 37, receives the emails, but she said it does not change her commute at all since she does not check her email before work. She said she would not be signing up for the text messaging system, but believes it’s a good idea.
“I’m just not a text messaging person,” Guilfoyle said.