Approximately one in four payphones in New York City Transit subway stations does not fully work, according to two surveys released today by the NYPIRG Straphangers Campaign.
In one survey of 921 telephones at 100 randomly chosen subway stations, 26% were found to be "non-functioning," with problems ranging from no dial tone to coin slot blocked (survey margin of error is +/- 4%). This finding is better than in our 2007 survey when an identical campaign survey rated 29% of phones non-functioning, a modest improvement.
In a second survey, the campaign tested 638 pay telephones in the 25 most-used New York City Transit subway stations and found 23% to be non-functioning (see Table One). This finding is consistent with our 2007 survey, which found 22% non-functioning.
Underground stations do not allow for cell phone use. In addition, the MTA said in 2007 that as many as half of subway riders do not own cell phones.
Both surveys were conducted between June 30 and September 23, 2008. The release of findings was delayed until June 2009, after state officials resolved the MTA's funding crisis.
• Among the 20 largest subway stations common to our 2007 report and this one, we found that payphone functioning rates improved in ten and grew worse in ten (see Table Two).
Telephones were deemed non-functioning if the handset was missing or unusable; there was no dial tone; surveyors were unable to connect a call to a 1-800 number; the coin slot was blocked; coins deposited did not register; or the telephone would not return a coin.
In the survey of the 921 phones in the 100 randomly selected stations, the leading reason for phones being rated as non-functioning was no dial tone (24%); followed by won't return coin (23%); coin falls through (18%); bad handset (16%); cannot connect to a 1-800 test number (11%); and coin slot blocked (8%) (see Chart One).
One regularly scheduled survey conducted by or on behalf of the MTA found a better level of subway payphone performance, noted Jason Chin-Fatt, field organizer for the Straphangers Campaign. However, he noted that the survey used a different methodology, which might explain the difference in findings.
For example, in its Passenger Environment Survey (PES), New York City Transit's Operations Planning Division found 93% of subway pay telephones to be in working order during the second half of 2008.
Chin-Fatt noted the discrepancy between Straphangers and PES survey might have arisen from three major differences. First, the PES surveys are less thorough. Surveyors do not perform a coin drop to test the phones, rating telephones as functioning if the surveyor notes an undamaged handset and is able to contact a specific 1-800 test number.
Second, the PES draws its sample from the entire subway station population (468 stations) and does not restrict itself to the most-used stations. Third, the PES survey was conducted over six months; ours for three months.
In addition, surveys were conducted for the MTA by an independent contractor during approximately the same time as the Campaign's survey (July to September, 2008). It found 25% of payphones to have "service affecting troubles," largely in line with the campaign's methodology for classifying payphones as non-functioning.
The campaign believes these results to be consistent with the overall findings of the Straphangers Campaign.
The report did not contain any surprises. In this day & age, no one really expects payphones to really work in a subway station. Most times they clearly are broken or look so dirty & beat up, that the idea of using one grosses you out. However I will say the one thing that does bother me about the report or more accurately the results.
I think it is very telling that the best performing stations were all heavily used stops where the majority of riders would not need to use a payphone. While it is not always a good idea to start class warfare, one has to question why stations in less than desirable areas feature a lower percentage of working payphones. This is a problem that should be rectified by Verizon. I also feel the MTA needs to have a clause in the next contract that creates a minimum percentage of phones that must be in working condition.