LinkNYC Kiosks to Display Real Time Bus Info

Delancey Street, September 2017

Those annoying LinkNYC kiosks that have taken over the sidewalk may soon get slightly more useful.

In a few weeks, the citywide eyesores will display bus timetables, up to one-third of a mile away. The countdowns will naturally be squeezed between advertisements and other public information that cycles through the screens. The commuting inclusion was spearheaded by Brooklyn Councilman Brad Lander, who has been pushing for this addition since September 2017.

A LinkNYC spokesperson had stated that a countdown was “on the roadmap” of future programming endeavours, but the councilman’s proactive interest sped up the launch.

The Link network is a public-private partnership that relies on advertising revenue to provide free services such as wi-fi, domestic phone capability, two USB charging ports, mapping services, neighborhood history, and at one time, porn.

Of course, there’s always the less landscape-invasive option of using the MTA Bus Time App instead, presumably where LinkNYC is pulling its data from in the first place. If that’s the case, you’re still at the mercy of mediocrity.

[h/t Crains New York]