Final Letter Report on the Installation of LinkNYC Kiosks in New York City as Provided by CityBridge, LLC Phase III Manhattan

Executive Summary

This Final Letter Report presents the results of the New York City Comptroller’s audit of the installation of LinkNYC Kiosks (Kiosks) in Manhattan as provided by CityBridge, LLC (CityBridge). LinkNYC is a new communications network that is replacing New York City pay phones with free Wi-Fi Kiosks. The objective of this audit was to determine whether CityBridge installed and maintained the Kiosks with all of the required key features. According to the City’s franchise agreement with CityBridge, the installation of 7,500 Kiosks across the five boroughs will be completed in ten phases. This audit focuses on the installation of Kiosks in the borough of Manhattan as required by Phase III and is the third in a series of audits of the ongoing installation of Kiosks. Unlike the previous reports of Phase I and Phase II, this report is limited to Manhattan.

Audit Findings and Conclusions

We tested 979 out of the 985 Kiosks in Manhattan. We found that those 979 Kiosks were operational as required by the agreement. In addition, we found that the installed Kiosks contained the required key features and generally, with some exceptions noted, at the time of sampling were operating as intended. Specifically, we found that:

• 907 of 979 tablet screens (93 percent) were operating as intended;
• 907 of 979 Kiosks (93 percent) enabled users to make phone calls;
• 963 of 979 Kiosks (98 percent) were able to connect to LinkNYC free Wi-Fi;
• 914 of 979 Kiosks (93 percent) had operable USB charging ports that could charge cellular devices; and
• 958 of 979 left-side advertising screens (98 percent) and 959 of 979 right‑side advertising screens (98 percent) were operating on the Kiosks.

Audit Recommendations

DoITT should :

1. Ensure that CityBridge fulfills its contractual obligations by ensuring that the Kiosks’ Wi-Fi feature is functioning at the level required by the agreement.
2. Ensure that CityBridge repairs the key features that were not functioning during our tests.

Agency Response

In its response, DoITT agreed with the audit’s findings and recommendations, stating, “We are pleased with your finding that, overall, the kiosk services generally operated as intended. . . . DoITT agrees with the recommendations and will continue to work with CityBridge to meet the LinkNYC Wi-Fi levels of availability with respect to the agreement.”