Payphone booths, remnants of a now-bygone era in Thailand, are finding new life in Pattaya as trash bins, much to the chagrin of homeowners and businesses near them.
Telephone companies long ago removed most of the coin-operated telephones from the booths, but neglected to take out the booths themselves. Now they’re dirt and graffiti covered and filled with rubbish, with no one taking responsibility to clean them up.
The Bangkok Metropolitan Administration, faced with the same problem, launched an effort to remove 17,000 phone booths from the capital, instead of waiting for Thailand’s big three telephone operators to do the job.
If Pattaya wants to get rid of the eyesore, city hall likely will have to do the same.
