Pay phone call now costs 50 cents
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Updated: October 19, 2009 11:43 AM
Jeff Nagel
Black Press
Telus has quietly doubled the price of making a pay phone call.
The increase from 25 cents to 50 cents took effect in early September at most pay phones in B.C., although some in rural areas still have to be changed manually.
There’s been no formal announcement of the change and it caught Surrey resident Giramye Gabre by surprise when he was unable to make a call with a quarter as usual.
“It is very confusing,” Gabre said, adding Telus should have provided better public notification.
“Some people may want to make an urgent emergency call and not have the 50 cents and may keep trying with 25 cents,” he said.
Telus spokesman Shawn Hall said notices have been put on pay phones.
“It was a fairly routine thing,” he said. “We are the last major pay phone provider in Canada to make the increase.”
The change had been approved by the CRTC in 2007 and is the first increase in B.C. since 1984.
Hall said the cost to Telus of maintaining pay phones has stayed constant but the revenue coming from them has fallen dramatically as more people use cellphones.
“We’ve had to remove some money-losing phones,” he said.
“Our choice was to pull more phones out of service or to raise the prices,” Hall added. “This increase will allow us to keep more pay phones in service.”
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