From NYC: "Spoof MTA service ‘announcements’ get big draw on Twitter," by Heather Haddon

This story originally appeared on AMNewYork at this address: http://www.amny.com/urbanite-1.812039/spoof-mta-service-announcements-get-big-draw-on-twitter-1.1628071. This link no longer works. A copy of the original story appears below.


Twitter has some useful advice for straphangers trying to navigate service disruptions.

“For Queens-bound service, transfer at (Queensboro Plaza) to a friends’ car or abandoned bike.”

A thread of satirical subway “announcements” has quickly gotten hot on Twitter, with nearly 2,000 people following “Fake MTA” since its launch two weeks ago.

Written by two bitingly sarcastic transit buffs, the tweets at twitter.com/FakeMTA spoof everything from L train hipsters to inaudible subway announcements in a lingo the parodies agency announcements. Recent tweets included:

“If passengers don’t move all the way into the car, the C train is going to turn around and go home”

“Beginning Dec. 3, 1-day Fun Passes will be restricted to lines serving designated ‘fun’ areas of the city”

“MTA to hold first annual Thanksgiving Rat Shoot: Nov. 25, all Lower East Side stations”

The tweet’s authors, Josh Oswald and Reed Jackson, wanted to use Twitter for an ironic project of some sort, and chose transit because of its universal impact on New Yorkers.

“Everybody knows it intimately. It’s like an 8 million person inside joke,” said Oswald, 29, who works in publishing with Jackson.

“Fake MTA” is updated several times a day. Future topics include the MTA’s budgetary woes and city buses, which Oswald characterized as “terrifying” and “mysterious.”

Benjamin Kabak, who writes the popular Second Avenue Subway blog, said the feed does a good job capturing rider sentiment. “They have a great sense of irreverence,” Kabak said.

A MTA spokesman declined comment.