Seán Óg’s, an Irish pub in Woodside, might soon see this homely and useless payphone enclosure replaced with a LinkNYC kiosk. Or maybe not so soon. LinkNYC, as very few New yorkers seem to know, is the so-called “payphone of the future” which should replace every single outdoor payphone in New York over the coming years. While neither Seán Óg’s nor anyone else would likely have any say in whether or not a LinkNYC kiosk is deposited at their front door they could at least know it’s coming. The clue comes from decoding that piece of sidewalk graffiti at the base of the payphone pedestal. The 6-digit number spray-painted onto the sidewalk was the PPT (Public Pay Telephone) ID for the payphone that used to be. That ID number will transfer to the LinkNYC kiosk whenever it arrives. Add that 6-digit number to your glossary of road graffiti meanings.

These 6-digit numbers can be spotted all over town, not just in places where payphones still stand. This number, on 37th Avenue in Long Island City, first appeared over a year ago. Nearby on Northern Boulevard there are several such numbers that have been out there long enough that the paint is fading. This begs the question: How long will customers at Seán Óg’s have to wait for their payphone to be replaced?

It could be a very long time. Last year, through both personal observation and evaluation of publicly available data, it appeared that LinkNYC installations came to a halt near the end of August, this after the rollout had already slowed considerably when compared to the pace at which kiosks appeared over the first 2½ years of the project. The dataset now reports that some long-standing kiosks are finally being activated, but the number of new installations has remained at zero since August 23.

My queries of the dataset show that the longest-running non-activated kiosk is at 9 Snyder Avenue in Brooklyn. That kiosk has done nothing but block peoples’ views since September 16, 2017. The dataset further reveals that at least 10 kiosks installed in 2017 remain idle, and over 50 of these machines have done nothing but occupy sidewalk space for over 6 months. If this is how long it takes to replace payphones then it is fair to suggest that maybe it’s not so wise to route out all of them at once, as has happened in some areas.