Using @nashtransit
As of January 31, 2011, the Twitter handle @nashtransit is a user-powered information service for mass transit riders in Nashville. Here's how it works:
Say you're on the #7 Hillsboro bus, and it's stuck in traffic. (That never happens, right?) Send a tweet starting with "@nashtransit" to share with all @nashtransit followers:
@nashtransit 7 Hillsboro inbound stuck in traffic near Green Hills Mall
Your message will instantly get reposted to everyone following @nashtransit. Easy as that. Follow @nashtransit and you'll get live updates posted from other MTA riders. Tweets with links in them will be considered spam and will not be retweeted.
This is surely going to start slowly. We need enough followers reporting to make @nashtransit a useful source of information. So please help spread the word to your Nashville transit-riding friends. The more people participate, the better it gets. (And by the way, spammers and other assorted jerks misusing the system or causing trouble will be blocked at our discretion. Fair notice.)
@NashTransit is powered by the Twitfinite bot, automation software which is developed right here in Nashville. Twitfinite is also behind the popular @nashtraffic account, which provides a similar service for other Nashville commuters.
Archives
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- Getting To Work
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- American Public Transportation Association
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- National Complete Streets Coalition
- Transportation For America
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Twitter: NashTransit
- Could not connect to Twitter
January 31st, 2011 - 22:32
Happy to see this up and running. Posted for the #20 riders and will pass the word around. So much thanks for the effort and making this happen. After many attempts to get a response from MTA, it appears they have no humans working their Twitter machine. such a bummer.
January 31st, 2011 - 22:42
Thanks for spreading the word!
I suspect that what MTA would need is someone in constant contact with dispatch ready to tweet updates, and they might just not be ready for that. Maybe one of these days their feed will look more like @cincinnatimetro. Meanwhile, the MTA iPhone app is still coming, but the flood set it back.