The 10 year contract between WMATA ("Metro") and Verizon [Let's see, what WAS it named when they signed it?] expires in March; and look like Verizontal will not renew.
Metro stations have been one of the last places in the DC area to actually find a pay phone, as every station entrance has them inside and outside the faregates.
For some unspecified period, WMATA will pay for one TTY equipped phone at each entrance.
At North Western Station in Chicago (Ogilvie Passenger Terminal officially, but no passenger has ever called it that), the owners of the office building that replaced the head house rearranged the first two floors for more retail space. There were two stub-end hallways at either end of the area in front of the doors to the train gates on the second floor that had a dozen pay phones on each side. They weren't used as often as they might have been as they were inconveniently located and signage was poor.
I didn't actually notice that they'd been yanked out, but one of the hallways adjacent to the ticket office is leased to a barber shop with three chairs, and the one at the opposite end is just closed off. Not sure how they'll get a tenant in there.
This is all on the second floor. On the first floor, there had been a few phones under one of the escalators where there was space but you also had to hunt for. I really need to make a thorough check to see if any payphones remain at all.
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