The last public payphone in New York City was removed on Monday, marking the end of an era.
The boxy cages were previously a familiar sight across the city. The development of cellphones, however, rendered the booths useless.
A news release from the city’s Office of Technology and Innovation stated that the move to replace public payphones around the city began in 2014 when the de Blasio administration sought suggestions to rethink the service.
CityBridge was chosen to design and run LinkNYC kiosks, which provide free phone calls, Wi-Fi, and device charging. In 2015, the city began removing street payphones in favor of LinkNYC kiosks.
According to a map provided by LinkNYC, the city has approximately 2,000 kiosks.
Commissioner Matthew Fraser had said, “just like we transitioned from the horse and buggy to the automobile and from the automobile to the airplane, the digital evolution has progressed from payphones to high-speed Wi-Fi kiosks to meet the demands of our rapidly changing daily communications needs.”
The last public payphone will be on display at the Museum of the City of New York as part of an exhibit about life before computers.
