Just a few years ago they were practically on every corner. Now the last phone booth in New York City has been taken down. A few onlookers gathered on 7th Avenue to say goodbye.
An era has come to an end in the New York district of Manhattan: on Monday afternoon (local time) the last telephone booth on the corner of 7th Avenue and 50th Street was dismantled, several US media reports agree. The striking little payphone houses shaped the New York cityscape for decades, now they have completely disappeared.
New York City: The last phone booth in Manhattan falls victim to advances in technology
As the editorial network Germany reports, the city administration of the metropolis had already started dismantling the public telephones in 2015 – they had been overtaken by technical progress.
“Just as we have transitioned from horse-drawn carriages to automobiles and from automobiles to airplanes, digital evolution has evolved from payphones to high-speed Wi-Fi to meet the demands of our rapidly changing daily communication needs,” the broadcaster quoted as saying. CNBC’ Commissioner Matthew Fraser.
The phone booths in the city have already been replaced across the board by public WiFi hotspots, which enable free phone calls, internet access and smartphone charging.
Some New Yorkers used the phone booths to the very end
Even if they seem outdated, some New Yorkers apparently swore by the payphones to the last. In 2014, 6,000 phone booths were still in operation in New York, according to the RND. Although usage has recently fallen, they are still being used – for both domestic and long-distance calls.
If you still want to throw a coin into a phone to call someone full of nostalgia, you have to look very carefully. A few last payphones from private providers are still on public land, according to the RND.
Sources: RND, CNBC
