The tablet and phone on the LinkNYC kiosk in the photo below had not worked for about 72 hours when I started writing this. In those 72 hours I looked for it in the CityBridge LinkNYC Kiosk Status dataset, an automated product said to identify in real time which kiosks work and which do not. This LinkNYC location never appeared in the dataset, which seems to paint a picture of the LinkNYC network as far more reliable than it really is.

That data feeds my map of activated LinkNYC kiosks and which of their features reportedly do or do not work. Until now I shied away from doing anything with the data beyond that map. If the data is no good then what value do I bring to the table by amplifying it?

The matter of relevance also enters into my thinking. Who needs to know where they can find a LinkNYC kiosk that does not work?

But I went ahead anyway with some hourly snapshots of which kiosks allegedly do not work, if only to give myself ongoing opportunity to verify that many non-working kiosks never get reported as such, while others that work just fine show up as dead in CityBridge’s dataset. I hope that others who encounter non-working kiosks might check these snapshots themselves and report on their accuracy.

The most PHP/MySQL programming work for me went into the table showing how many LinkNYC kiosk installations remain unactivated, and for how long. Assuming this data is accurate it appears that a number of kiosks have remained idle on our streets for hundreds of days. This violates a rule in the CityBridge/DoITT franchise agreement that states kiosks must be activated promptly. Fines for a “non-Delayed PCS” can be levied after a 45-day grace period, or after 105 days for a “Delayed PCS”.

Since the dataset does not indicate which unactivated kiosks are delayed and which are not I made calculations based on none of them being delayed. It’s a hypothetical calculation anyway since DoITT would never fine its darling child CityBridge in the amount which, as of this writing, approaches three-quarters of a million dollars.

I say this despite a claim on Medium.com from Samir Saini, the Commissioner of DoITT, that “we have significant audit power and are relentless in working to ensure that our franchisee is in compliance with all the terms of our contract”. Mr. Saini added that the agency would “use our enforcement powers to mete out appropriate consequences.” Mr. Saini’s comments were prompted by privacy policy concerns but the spirit of his words applied to all terms of the franchise agreement.

Untrue. Regular New Yorkers are more likely to have their decades-old newsstand fined out of existence to make way for a new LinkNYC kiosk before CityBridge, with its enviable municipal privilege, will have to pay a dime for leaving useless kiosks on our sidewalks for as long as 512 days (as of this writing).

Other data snapshots, which I present as-is with the huge caveat that I do not believe them accurate, include LinkNYC Tablets Reported Down, LinkNYC Phones Reported Down, and LinkNYC WiFi Reported Down.

One obvious nuance makes this data suspect: When a kiosk’s tablet is reported down but the phone calling feature is not. When the “Hang tight!” screen seen above appears you cannot make phone calls from the kiosks, not even with the physical keypad below the tablet. Attempting to do so returns this screen apologetically reporting no network connection. Presumably it is also impossible to make 911 calls. If CityBridge’s data says a kiosk’s tablet does not work, but its phone does, why should I believe either claim?

As I type these words (April 5, 2019, 7:15pm) CityBridge’s dataset reports 2.41% of LinkNYC tablets do not work. It also reports that 0.56% of the kiosks’ phones do not work. That does not compute.

If nothing else these snapshots, with their listings of more-or-less random locations in New York, give me reason to reminisce about what experiences I had at or near some of these addresses. Take this current (as I type this) snapshot of LinkNYC kiosks where WiFi allegedly does not work:

268 Greene Street. I slept with a Kiwi on Greene Street. I never told her that she partially mutilated my junk with her too-sharp nails. Wait, does 268 Greene Street in Manhattan even exist? 941 4th Avenue in Brooklyn. That’s near where my ex-gf works, for a spa company. 45-02 Van Dam Street? That’s outside the LaGuardia Community College, site of the only photojournalism gig I ever got after CNN. 1273 Broadway in Manhattan? That’s a curl of Broadway between 34th Street and 14th I always avoided for its quagmire-ness, save for how I knew a guy who lived there and stopped by often.

Memories. Might as well put this garbage data to some productive use.