Okay, after the last kick at the can failed so miserably, I’m trying this poll thing again.

Again: we’re thinking about using Twitter to send out emergency notices for service disruptions. You know: bus cancellations owing to heavy snowfall, or SkyTrain’s at a halt because there’s a fire on the tracks, that kind of thing.

The poll closes next Thursday at 4pm, so get your vote in now! And to clarify any confusion from the last post, this poll is solely about Twitter – voting no in this poll doesn’t mean you’re against mobile alerts in general.

As well, here’s a recap of the comments in the last Twitter poll post, with a little more about the meaning of this poll and the customer alert systems we’re working on for the future.

• Again, this poll is solely about Twitter. Voting “No” in this poll doesn’t mean you’re against mobile alerts in general.
• TransLink is already working a system for delivering customer alerts via RSS and email updates, roughly for early 2009. Twitter would help supplement this system.
• We’re interested in Twitter because lots of people seem to be using it these days.
• We aren’t really exploring a text messaging system to deliver customer alerts, since it costs us to send text messages, and Twitter is free.
• One current way of getting TransLink’s urgent customer alerts is via News 1130 and AM730 updates. We send out urgent updates to the media so they should have current info as it happens.
• Did you know that you can listen in on SkyTrain’s public radio conversations, providing you have a radio scanner? I didn’t either, until reader xl schooled me about them. Check out this link for more.