Receding Phone Lines

It wasn’t all that long ago that Bank Street was lined on either side by pay phones. While it does seem that Bell has been stepping up its efforts to remove them in the last few years (they’re vandalized frequently and do not generate much in the way of revenue), they really do work quickly when the call is made to remove.

Yesterday, thinking I’d be able to make photos of the last phones on Bank above Nepean, I headed for the block between Queen and Sparks, only to find, well, the little stands. No phones!

Looking at this map from 2012 (when Bell raised the cost of a call to 50¢ (from 25¢)), at least in my own immediate area, few of these remain. Displaced (almost) entirely by the cellphone. I suppose it’s much like the newspaper boxes that once crowded street corners with those phone booths.