(Bloomberg) — New York’s Metropolitan Transportation Authority deals with a lot of unhappy riders on social media who complain about everything from train delays to crime and homelessness. Now it’s turning to those angry customers for help.
The MTA, the largest mass-transit provider in the U.S., is offering salaries of up to $94,000 for workers to help provide real-time updates for the millions of customers who rely on the system’s railroads, subways and buses, according to a job posting on April 5.
“If you really want to tweet about fixing transit all day, we’ll pay you to do it,” the MTA’s subway alerts account said in a tweet.
Weekday subway ridership in New York City is at about 60% of prepandemic levels, and increasing ridership will help the state agency address an estimated $2 billion budget deficit in 2026.
Crime has increased on the system during the pandemic as more people are sheltering in subway stations and trains. That’s also led the system to deal with increased train delays as they work to remove homeless people from stations.
The MTA runs the New York City subways and buses, as well as Metro-North and the Long Island Rail Road.
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