I’ll give you a hint: it’s not the popularity of mobile phones.
It’s how insanely expensive it is to phone them. £1.40 to make a two calls, one that went to answerphone. And another that lasted barely a minute. In a world where communication is almost entirely ubiquitous, and for the most part cheap- Charging insane prices on payphones is a surefire way to kill them.
Just to add weight to this absurdity: I’ve phoned a British mobile phone from a payphone whilst on holiday, and it lasted 5 minutes for barely 50p.
The cost of a phone call from a telephone box is 20p for at least a minute, the real reason is the increase of moble phones.
[quote comment="997"]The cost of a phone call from a telephone box is 20p for at least a minute, the real reason is the increase of moble phones.[/quote]
Even if the cost of a phone call to a UK landline is 20p for at least one minute (I think it’s 30p for 3/4 of an hour) that doesn’t change the fact that most phone booths set a minimum charge of 40p. If your call isn’t answered, or goes to an answerphone then you loose the money. There’s also the fact that more often than not, the only certain way to reach someone is on their mobile phone, it’s absurd that I can call this mobile phone from a phonebox 3/4 of the way around the world for substancially less than from a BT one. It’s uncompetive to mobile phones, not just less prolific.