Charlie's in Your Cell Phone

The next time the MBTA shuts down due to a trash fire, riders might get some advance warning of a problem through the brand-spanking-new MBTA alert text messaging service. The Metro is reporting that a pilot program will start this week.

After the widely rejected "innovation" of T Radio, it seems that the MBTA brass has gotten the message and is rolling out something that is useful for its customers. Alerts will be sent out to cell phones as they happen, and subscribers can pick what times they get the notifications so they aren't getting messages they don't need and aren't getting charged for them. The service is free, but your cell phone carrier will charge.

The pilot program starts on Wednesday, and you can subscribe on the T's website. Right now, the T's website just has a description of Mobile MBTA.com, but you can sign up for a myMBTA account. The service seems promising because, in the past, the MBTA's website has been surprisingly helpful when describing service problems.