It is fair to assert that most New Yorkers are probably indifferent to the decline in payphones in the subway system. Despite the fact that cell phones generally do not work in the city’s subways, I would think that most cell-phone carrying straphangers are connected to the world constantly enough to a point where the brief time spent out of touch is a welcome respite, at least for a little while.
The danger is not so much in declining numbers of subway phones but with the fact that many of those remaining either do not work at all or function unpredictably. As the New York Sun mentions (link below), a 2006 Straphangers survey found that 29% of payphones in the subway system were useless for any of several reasons. One need not think too hard to imagine scenarios in which access to a working telephone might be critical in a space where cell phone service does not work.
Furthermore, subway information (weekend changes, delays, etc.) are available for free by dialing #3333 from subway payphones. Any city subway rider knows that in-station announcements about delays and route changes are often inaudible over the subway’s speaker systems, making reliable access to this free payphone service of some significance.
But how many people use #3333, I wonder, and does the MTA plan to eliminate that service at some point?
The Sun summarizes the immediate future of payphones in the subways with these numbers:
“Between 2003 and the end of this year, the number of phones on subway platforms in New York City will have declined by about 20%. A spokesman for the Metropolitan Transportation Authority, Tim O’Brien, said there were presently about 5,100 phones in subway stations and by the end of the year the number would decline to 4,700 or 4,800. He said there were no plans to decrease this number further. The number of subway phones was at a high in 2003-04, with a total of about 6,000, he said.”