City removes last-standing public payphone from NYC street

[Kamaji]

City removes last-standing public payphone from NYC street

By Allie Griffin
May 23, 2022

The last standing public payphone in the city was removed from a Times Square street on Monday.

City officials bid farewell to the iconic, coin-operated phone booth as a crane ripped it from the sidewalk at Seventh Avenue and West 50th Street Monday morning.

The phone’s removal marks the completion of the city’s nearly-decade-long effort to replace the outdated technology with LinksNYC kiosks, which offer free WiFi, domestic calling, mobile device charging, 911 and 311 access and other amenities.

Manhattan Borough President Mark Levine, who was at the payphone removal, said he hopes its replacement will bring more equitable technology access for New Yorkers. Though he admitted its removal was bittersweet.

“I won’t miss all the dead dial tones but gotta say I felt a twinge of nostalgia seeing it go,” he said on Twitter.

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Source:  https://nypost.com/2022/05/23/nyc-last-standing-public-payphone-from-street/