The MTA announced on Thursday that it will no longer provide real-time service alerts on Twitter since the platform began charging an exorbitant price for the integral feature that allows such posts.
The decision came after the Elon Musk-owned company approached the cash-strapped transit agency, asking for $50,000 a month to maintain access to Twitter’s application programming interface — or API — system, an MTA official told The Post.
“The MTA has terminated posting service information to Twitter, effective immediately, as the reliability of the platform can no longer be guaranteed,” MTA Acting Chief Customer Officer Shanifah Rieara said in a Thursday statement.
“The MTA does not pay tech platforms to publish service information and has built redundant tools that provide service alerts in real time,” the statement read.
In the last two weeks, the MTA’s access to Twitter’s API system was involuntarily interrupted twice — on April 14 and again on Thursday.
The API system allows multiple computer applications to work together and when used by the MTA’s Twitter account, it produces status updates on the city’s subways and buses.
Instead of Twitter, the MTA has several other platforms to use for sharing service updates with the public.
“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,” Rieara said.
Twitter responded to The Post’s request for comment with a poop emoji.
Musk announced in February that Twitter planned to begin charging accounts for access to its API system. The MTA told Bloomberg it was initially informed that paid service would take effect by the end of March – however it was not given a specific date for when it could lose access.
Access to Twitter’s API system was expected to be expensive.
Last month, Wired reported that the cheapest tier of the company’s planned “enterprise packages” for developer tools would cost $42,000 per month — while the most expensive would cost $210,000 per month.
Customers will still be able to tweet at all MTA accounts, including its main account @MTA and @nyct_subway, with questions and requests for help, the agency said. The @MTA account will remain active for branding and other messaging purposes.
San Francisco’s Bay Area Rapid Transit District system (BART) also reported that it had its access to Twitter API suspended earlier this month.
“We have far more followers here than anywhere. We’ve gone viral many times for support of public transit and met incredible riders here. As we consider other platforms, we can’t help but feel disappointed by Twitter’s decision,” the agency tweeted.
