Methodology

This report is intended as a follow-up to the Straphangers Campaign summer 2001 subway payphone report, in which we surveyed payphones in 100 randomly selected subway stations as well as those phones located in the 25 most-used stations.

In addition, in February 1999, we released a report in which we tested the payphones in 100 randomly selected subway stations; in December 2000, the campaign tested payphones in the 25 most-used subway stations.

In replicating these previous surveys, campaign volunteers tested 1215 payphones at a total of 117 stations. A complete breakdown of the methodology used in each sub-report is listed below.

The Straphangers Campaign trained and deployed 6 volunteers over the period between June 25 and July 17, 2002. Volunteers were instructed to test each payphone in the subway station and record all data on hand-held electronic devices.

A telephone was rated as “non-functioning” if any of the following applied:

• The handset was missing or unusable;
• There was no dial tone;
• Surveyors were unable to connect to any of 411, 0 and 555-1212;
• The coin slot was blocked;
• Coins deposited did not register; or
• The telephone would not return a coin after no call was connected.

All data was consolidated and analyzed in the aggregate in the period following the survey.

1. Survey of payphones in 100 randomly selected stations

Campaign staff selected 100 of the system’s 468 stations by random drawing, and sent volunteers to each of these stations. For this portion of our survey, 789 payphones were tested throughout 100 stations.

In our 2001 report, we found that 80% of the phones tested in our sample of 100 randomly selected subway stations functioned correctly. In 2002, only 69% were found to function correctly. The deterioration is statistically significant at the .05 level.

2. Survey of Payphones in 25 most-used subway stations

In the random selection of 100 subway stations, 8 of the most-used 25 stations were incidentally selected for observation. Thus, in order to replicate the second portion of our 2001 report, Straphangers Campaign volunteers then additionally surveyed 17 of the remainder of these stations. One station among the top 25 - 42nd Street Times Square - could not be surveyed due to construction, and was replaced with the 27th-most-used station, 96th Street/Broadway. (The 26th-most-used station is 77th Street/Lexington, contained no payphones.)

In these 25 stations, a total of 592 payphones were tested. Of these, our surveyors found 71% of these were in functioning order. This figure - down from 81% in 2001 - is a statistically significant deterioration.

Among the 21 stations common to the 2001 survey and this one, we found that payphone functioning rates deteriorated in 14 stations, improved in six, and remained the same in one. Each change is statistically significant.

Independent Auditing and New York City Passenger Environment Survey

Currently Verizon is under contract with MTA New York City Transit to guarantee 95% of phones to be "fully operative and in service at all times." A monthly audit conducted by a private company commissioned by the MTA found that 12% of telephones had "service-affecting troubles" during January to June 2002.

New York City Transit conducts its own quarterly telephone rating in its respected Passenger Environment Survey (PES). Results cited in the PES are not comparable to those in this report, as PES surveyors do not use a coin to test the functioning of a telephone. PES rates a telephone as functioning if the surveyor notes an undamaged handset and is able to contact a specific 800 test number.

News Release
Table One
Chart One
Table Two

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