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

Introduction

The objective of this audit was to determine whether CityBridge installed the Kiosks with the required key features.  According to the City’s agreement with CityBridge, the installation of Kiosks will be broken down into eight phases for the installation of over 7,500 Kiosks across the five boroughs.  This audit was conducted of Phase I of the installation of the Kiosks and is the first in a series of audits of the ongoing installation of Kiosks.

The Department of Information Technology and Telecommunications (DoITT) was established to, among other things, provide for the sustained, efficient and effective delivery of information technology (IT) services, infrastructure and telecommunications to enhance service delivery to the City’s residents, businesses, employees and visitors.  DoITT serves 120 City agencies, boards, offices, and more than 8 million City residents and 300,000 employees. It aims to provide New Yorkers and the agencies that serve them with innovative and accessible technology solutions.

On December 10, 2014, the Franchise and Concession Review Committee (FCRC) unanimously approved a non-exclusive franchise agreement that authorizes CityBridge to install, operate, and maintain public communications Kiosks.

The key features of the Kiosks include functionalities that will:

• Enable users to use their personal devices to connect to LinkNYC’s free Wi-Fi;
• Provide access to City services, maps and directions from a touch screen tablet;
• Enable users to make free phone calls to anywhere in the U.S. by using the Vonage app on the tablet or the tactile keypad and microphone, and to plug in their personal headphones for privacy;
• Provide a dedicated red 911 button for use in the event of an emergency;
• Enable users to charge their personal devices, using the Kiosk’s power-only Universal Serial Bus (USB) port; and
• Provide two 55” HD displays for public service announcements and advertising.

Built at no cost to taxpayers, the five-borough LinkNYC network is projected to, through advertising proceeds, generate more than $500 million in revenue for the City over the initiative’s first 12 years.  According to DoITT, by replacing an aging network of public pay telephones with state-of-the-art Kiosks, CityBridge will transform the physical streetscape with a sleek design, enhance New Yorkers’ access to information, and create new local jobs for the development, service, and maintenance of the Kiosks.

Over an eight-year period, CityBridge will install over 7,500 Kiosks across the five boroughs. By the end of Phase II, July 20, 2017, a total of 1,530 Kiosks, 510 from Phase I and 1,020 from Phase II, were required to be operational. An amendment to CityBridge’s franchise agreement was approved in May 2018, which extended the buildout period for an additional two years, from 2023 to 2025, and adjusted the minimum number of Kiosks required to be operational each year.

Results

The audit found that 1,507 of the 1,530 Kiosks were operational as required by the franchise 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:

• 1,294 of 1,507 tablet screens (86 percent) were operating as intended;
• 1,234 of 1,507 Kiosks (82 percent) enabled users to make phone calls;
• 1,460 of 1,507 Kiosks (97 percent) were able to connect to LinkNYC free Wi-Fi;
• 1,445 of 1,507 Kiosks (96 percent) had operable USB charging ports that could charge cellular devices; and
• 1,449 of 1,507 left-side advertising screens (96 percent) and 1,439 of 1,507 right‑side advertising screens (95 percent) were operating on the Kiosks.