Pay Phone Extinction
Sounds like extinction is coming sooner than later out in NYC:
New York City's once-ubiquitous street pay phones may soon be a thing of the past.
A spokesperson for New York City Council Speaker Corey Johnson's office told CNN about 30 pay phones are expected to be removed by the end of March, with Johnson himself saying they would start in Hell's Kitchen.
"The antiquated and outdated pay phone booths take up much-needed sidewalk space," Johnson said in a statement to CNN. "Removing these booths is a win for pedestrians who navigate these crowded blocks. I want to thank the local residents who partnered with us on this and the Department of Information, Technology and Telecommunications for working with my office to address this issue."
However, this is a super neat idea that I had never heard about:
Although the archetype of a phone on a hook will disappear from most of the city, LinkNYC kiosks provide users across the city the ability to make free calls to anyone in the United States.
The kiosks, which are being deployed across the city and primarily provide free public WiFi, also take up less space than payphones, offer complimentary USB charging ports and are compliant with the Americans with Disabilities Act, according to LinkNYC's website.
The top of LinkNYC's initiatives page even has a subheading that reads, "Say Goodbye to the Payphone."
Free calls to anyone in the U.S. How cool is that??!!??
Remember the number mentioned above ("about 30 pay phones")? That's just a drop in the bucket of what's coming.......
CityBridge, the operator of the LinkNYC kiosks, will eventually remove New York City's 3,000 remaining pay phones across five boroughs, according to spokesman Dan Levitan. He did not have a timetable for how long it would take for those phones to be removed, but said that some may be replaced by LinkNYC kiosks.
3,000! Wonder how many millions of calls have been made through the years on those?
Grace & Peace & Love to you all -
Matt
