Welcome to the VERY FIRST Edition of The Next Stop! We are going to be bringing you the latest stories in transit and infrastructure, so stay tuned! Let’s get into the stories for this week.

Elon Musk’s Twitter Changes Could Hurt Transit Alert Systems

Over the weekend, the Metropolitan Transportation Authority (MTA) experienced an outage in their live service alerts on Twitter due to an API issue, leaving many of their riders without real-time service advisories for their commutes. The MTA uses Twitter to provide automated updates on service changes, incidents, outages, and snags for commuters. This is not Elon Musk’s first time intentionally damaging public transportation, and it is unlikely to be the last. Thankfully Twitter employees fixed the issue by Saturday morning, the outage raises concerns about the potential for the MTA to lose access to Twitter alerts permanently unless they pay massive amounts of money to the social media platform each month. This concern arises from Elon Musk's recent changes to Twitter's API, restricting access and attempting to monetize usage that was previously free. The MTA is not the only government agency affected by the API changes, as others also experienced outages over the weekend.

FYI: This is also affecting other important alert systems for transit and general public safety, so make sure you have other methods of receiving this vital information! Here are a few other offerings affected:

• The National Weather Service of Wilmington, OH tweeted that they will not post auto warnings anymore

• San Francisco BART has also tweeted about their suspended alerts system

• Wordpress, the free blogging tool, has also been affected.

Public Transportation for Arkansas!

Arkansas is receiving over $47 million in public transportation grants, part of $14 billion in funds distributed across the country. The money will fund upgrades to mass transit stations and tracks, next-gen buses, and prioritize accessibility for seniors and those with disabilities. Little Rock is receiving over $8 million, while the Fayetteville-Springdale-Rogers area is getting over $4 million. This funding package is the highest single-year funding ever given for transportation in the state of Arkansas! The FTA says the money will help create jobs, provide mobility, and address the climate crisis.

FYI: Arkansas has one of the lowest public transit usage rates in the country, and many residents have been critical of their lack of past investment. Arkansas is also ranked as the third most car dependent state in the country… (Source: The Most and Least Car-Dependent States [Complete Study] US Insurance Agents)

📺 Full Speed Ahead

Full speed ahead features a cool transit video we enjoyed this week and recommend you check out! This week’s featured video is from Honaj Transit, an up and coming creator with just over 1,000 subscribers! Go check it out:

🔥 Future Stops

Here are some stories that we didn’t have time for, but are definitely still worth a read! (These stories do link outside of The Next Stop, so if you don’t want to be exposed to the outside web, stop here. However we have read these sources before and think they are at least decent at communicating the stories!)

• The MTA is seizing vehicles of frequent toll evaders

• David Hasselhoff will be the new pitch-man for Trainline.com in Europe

• The European Parliament is working to reduce waiting times for trains

Thank you so much for reading! I hope you enjoyed our first newsletter, hopefully this is the start of a long ride. If you want more content check out our YouTube channel, Infra! Otherwise, we will see you next week! Thanks!