Yes, you can talk to the Subway on WhatsApp
You can message the MTA on WhatsApp (http://new.mta.info/whatsapp) and get a quick response. I used it earlier this week to report a large coffee spill on my train:
Ideally, there would be some way to know if messaging the MTA actually leads to something happening. For example, it would be nice to know if the spill got cleaned sooner than it would have otherwise thanks to my message. I did appreciate that MTA is at least collecting survey responses on the user experience:
The MTA could also improve this feature with a quick onboarding (even a Youtube video could work) on what information is needed to file report or what questions MTA employees on WhatsApp are equipped to handle. As you can see above, I didn’t even realize I could look around and see my train car’s number until a MTA employee asked me for the information.
The MTA is a New York Public Benefit Corporation, which essentially means it is a government agency with a lot of tools normally seen in the private sector. Hopefully they can continue iterating and supporting features like communication with customers via WhatsApp.