From SmartCity Dive
NYC tech official slams LinkNYC group for contract negligence: ‘CityBridge is delinquent’
All is not well in New York City and the LinkNYC people. NYC officials claim they have not been paid appropriately. LinkNYC has failed to install and activate promised kiosks, and to remove old payphones. CityBridge, a consortium of tech companies including Intersection, Qualcomm and CIVIQ Smartscapes, denied the “fictional narrative” that Tisch detailed.
Currently over 1700 kiosks (mostly in Manhattan). LinkNYC won “Infrastructure Advancement of the Year” in the 2017 Smart Cities Dive Awards. At the time, sources said more than 7,500 Links were planned to be installed by 2022.
Excerpt:
During testimony in front of the New York City Council on Tuesday, Department of Information Technology and Telecommunications (DoITT) Commissioner Jessica Tisch condemned CityBridge for its failure to meet the terms of a franchise agreement regarding the installation and service of LinkNYC kiosks.
In her testimony, Tisch said CityBridge is “delinquent” and only paid the city $2.6 million of the $32.3 million owed in FY19 under the terms of its agreement. Consequently, the city was short $30 million from projected revenues in that fiscal year. She also said CityBridge has failed to install and activate promised LinkNYC kiosks, and to remove old payphones as detailed in the agreement.
Furthermore, in FY20, CityBridge has not paid any of the $43.7 million owed per its agreement, despite collecting revenues of $105 million from advertising, according to Tisch.