New York’s Metropolitan Transportation Authority (MTA) upgraded and rebranded its Email & Text Alert subscription service, now called My MTA Alerts®, to allow customers to request service information at specific times of the day within 30-minute intervals.

Email and text alerts were brought to the entire MTA family of agencies in 2008 and have become a popular and useful tool for customers looking for up-to-the minute service changes and the status of elevators or escalators. Subscribers can choose to receive alerts about any MTA New York City Transit subway, bus, Long Island Rail Road (LIRR) or Metro-North Railroad commuter train, or toll crossing.

“We have improved an already incredibly useful travel-planning tool with the primary goal of providing our customers additional flexibility regarding the date and specific time interval they receive notifications,” MTA Chairman/CEO Thomas F. Prendergast said. “Now, you don’t have to receive alerts about service issues that will not affect you. You can pick the times based solely on when you travel.”

While the previous alert service allowed customers to sign up for service alerts in four-hour windows, customers can now specify when they receive information in as little as 30-minute intervals based on when they travel.

Other enhancements to My MTA Alerts® include:

• Full detailed text message. Truncated text messages have been eliminated. Now customers can see the full details of a text alert on your mobile phone by clicking on View More

• Unlimited Subscriptions. Once a rider establishes a primary account using an email or cell phone number, they can add as many subscriptions as you want. Many customers like this so they can set up alerts for anyone in their family based on the lines and routes they use. All email addresses and mobile numbers are listed in the same place for easy editing.

• Security. To protect privacy, My MTA Alerts® requires a two-step verification process before a My MTA Alert® account is activated.