New York City has 11,412 payphones. Depending on how you look at it, that’s 11,412 eyesores or 11,412 opportunities. If you’re like design firm Control Group and transit advertising group Titan, then you view these obsolete sidewalk stands as the latter.
The firms have partnered to develop NYC I/O, a project submitted to the city of New York in an attempt to reclaim the rarely used spaces of the city’s payphones. Their vision is to create a network of high-tech information kiosks connected through fiber optics.
These new-age payphones will have real-time data about traffic, weather, news, and other important information. While it’s similar to a smart phone it will have unique functionalities such as the option to pay a parking ticket through the kiosk, or check how busy a local restaurant is through street view from any of the other 11,411 payphones. Once you find the information you’re looking for you’ll have the option to save it to your mobile device. In the distant future this technology could potentially create a wi-fi network throughout the entire city.
At the moment this ingenious technology is still null, as the city of New York reviews and judges the finalists in its design contest. However, if the buzz around this concept is any indicator, NYC I/O will come out on top of the competition.
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