Fetch MTA service alerts and disruptions

This guide shows you how to fetch current MTA service alerts covering delays, planned work, and service changes for subway and bus. You will call mta.alerts.current(), filter the results for the routes you care about, and display the relevant messages in your application.

Call mta.alerts.current()

Pass a mode of 'subway' or 'bus' to retrieve alerts for that transit type. You can call both and merge the results if your application covers multiple modes.

import { MTA } from 'mta-js'

const mta = new MTA({ apiKey: process.env.MTA_API_KEY })

// Fetch subway alerts
const subwayAlerts = await mta.alerts.current({ mode: 'subway' })

// Fetch bus alerts
const busAlerts = await mta.alerts.current({ mode: 'bus' })

Example response:

{
  "alerts": [
    {
      "id": "lmm:alert:123456",
      "headerText": "A/C trains running with delays",
      "descriptionText": "A and C trains are delayed due to signal problems at Jay St-MetroTech. Allow additional travel time.",
      "affectedRoutes": ["A", "C"],
      "severity": "WARNING",
      "startTime": 1715770800,
      "endTime": 1715785200
    },
    {
      "id": "lmm:alert:789012",
      "headerText": "Planned work this weekend",
      "descriptionText": "No N trains between Astoria and Times Square Sat 12am–5am and Sun 12am–5am.",
      "affectedRoutes": ["N"],
      "severity": "INFO",
      "startTime": 1715904000,
      "endTime": 1716076800
    }
  ]
}

Filter alerts by route or severity

The alerts array may contain many entries. Filter it down to only the routes your users care about before displaying anything.

function getAlertsForRoute(
  alerts: typeof subwayAlerts.alerts,
  route: string
) {
  return alerts.filter((alert) =>
    alert.affectedRoutes.includes(route)
  )
}

const aTrainAlerts = getAlertsForRoute(subwayAlerts.alerts, 'A')

You can also filter by severity to surface only the most urgent alerts:

const urgentAlerts = subwayAlerts.alerts.filter(
  (alert) => alert.severity === 'WARNING' || alert.severity === 'SEVERE'
)

Display alert messages to users

Use headerText as the alert title and descriptionText for the full detail. Always show both — headerText alone may not give users enough context to act on the disruption.

for (const alert of aTrainAlerts) {
  console.log(`[${alert.severity}] ${alert.headerText}`)
  console.log(alert.descriptionText)
  console.log(`Affects: ${alert.affectedRoutes.join(', ')}`)
  console.log('---')
}

Poll for updates

Alerts can be issued or resolved at any time. Poll mta.alerts.current() on a regular interval to keep your UI up to date.

async function refreshAlerts(mode: 'subway' | 'bus') {
  const data = await mta.alerts.current({ mode })
  renderAlerts(data.alerts)
}

// Check for new alerts every 60 seconds
setInterval(() => refreshAlerts('subway'), 60_000)

Sixty seconds is a reasonable interval for alerts. Unlike arrival times, service alerts change less frequently, so you don’t need to poll as aggressively.

Complete example

import { MTA } from 'mta-js'

const mta = new MTA({ apiKey: process.env.MTA_API_KEY })

interface Alert {
  id: string
  headerText: string
  descriptionText: string
  affectedRoutes: string[]
  severity: string
  startTime: number
  endTime: number | null
}

function filterActiveAlerts(alerts: Alert[]): Alert[] {
  const now = Math.floor(Date.now() / 1000)
  return alerts.filter((alert) => {
    const started = alert.startTime <= now
    const notEnded = alert.endTime === null || alert.endTime > now
    return started && notEnded
  })
}

function filterByRoute(alerts: Alert[], route: string): Alert[] {
  return alerts.filter((alert) => alert.affectedRoutes.includes(route))
}

async function displayAlertsForRoute(
  route: string,
  mode: 'subway' | 'bus'
): Promise<void> {
  try {
    const data = await mta.alerts.current({ mode })

    const active = filterActiveAlerts(data.alerts)
    const relevant = filterByRoute(active, route)

    if (relevant.length === 0) {
      console.log(`No active alerts for route ${route}.`)
      return
    }

    console.log(`${relevant.length} alert(s) affecting route ${route}:\n`)

    for (const alert of relevant) {
      console.log(`[${alert.severity}] ${alert.headerText}`)
      console.log(alert.descriptionText)
      console.log()
    }
  } catch (error) {
    console.error('Failed to fetch alerts:', error)
  }
}

await displayAlertsForRoute('A', 'subway')

Filtering by route

When you need alerts for multiple routes at once, extend the filter to check any route in a set:

const routes = new Set(['A', 'C', 'E'])

const filteredAlerts = subwayAlerts.alerts.filter((alert) =>
  alert.affectedRoutes.some((r) => routes.has(r))
)

This is useful for transit apps that let users follow several lines and want a unified alert feed across all of them.

Filter to active alerts before displaying anything. An alert with a startTime in the future is scheduled but not yet in effect, and an alert with a past endTime is resolved. Check both fields before rendering.

const now = Math.floor(Date.now() / 1000)

const activeAlerts = alerts.filter(
  (alert) =>
    alert.startTime <= now &&
    (alert.endTime === null || alert.endTime > now)
)

Alert severity levels indicate how disruptive an event is:

INFO — general notices, such as weekend service changes or planned work during off-peak hours
WARNING — moderate disruptions, such as delays or reduced service frequency
SEVERE — significant disruptions, such as suspended service or major reroutes

Use severity to prioritize which alerts you surface prominently in your UI. Consider showing SEVERE alerts in a banner or push notification, and INFO alerts inline with scheduled service information.

Get Started

Core Concepts

Guides

Self-Hosting

Fetch MTA service alerts and disruptions

Complete example

Filtering by route

​Complete example

​Filtering by route

Complete example

Filtering by route