Located at Seventh Avenue and 49th Street, the removal of the payphone kiosk marks the end of an era. It was the last of its kind in operation in New York, following a sweep of the city’s 8,178 active public payphones starting in 2015. Replacing the former payphone sites have been LinkNYC kiosks that were first introduced by tech company consortium City Bridge in 2014 following a competition launched by former Mayor Michael Bloomberg to reimagine the payphone. A more modern take on the long-standing payphones, LinkNYC kiosks offer Wi-Fi, USB charging ports, and the ability to make free nationwide calls.
There still remain some private payphones on public property, however, along with four permanent, full-length booths all located on the Upper West Side. The “last” payphones removed yesterday will not be scrapped though. Instead, they are heading to the Museum of the City of New York as part of its new exhibit Analog City: NYC BC (Before Computers).
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