Final call for traditional Swiss phone booths

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Panoramic: phone booths at Basel Station (Claude Giger) Claude Giger

A telephone booth built into a chalet, designed by architect Gion A. Caminada, in the village of Vrin, canton Graubünden (Flurin Bertschinger/Ex-Press) Flurin Bertschinger/Ex-Press

Overgrown in Lucerne (Urs Keller/Ex-Press) Urs Keller/Ex-Press

Inaccessible: phone boxes at La-Chaux-de-Fonds (left) and Lucerne (Keystone) Keystone

Phone boxes always were a good way of getting a better view at Zurich's Street Parade festival (Christian Nilson/13 Photo) Christian Nilson / 13 Photo

Romantic: a public phone box in Sent, canton Graubünden (Martin Rütschi/Keystone) Martin Rütschi/Keystone

Hemmed in: hopefully people always used the right door (Elisabetha Günthardt/Keystone) Elisabetha Günthardt/Keystone

Out of place: this phone box in Palagnedra, canton Ticino, is only used a few times a year (Gaetan Bally/Keystone) Gaetan Bally/Keystone

Storage: this phone box is also used as a storage depot at the Basel Fasnacht carnival (Georgios Kefalas/Keystone) Georgios Kefalas/Keystone

Telephone booth at the post office in Massagno, canton Tessin Martin Rütschi/Keystone

Blinding: a telephone booth at Effingerstrasse in Bern (Gaetan Bally/Keystone) Gaetan Bally/Keystone

Design: a public phone in Zurich with an electronic telephone book (Gaetan Bally/Keystone) Gaetan Bally/Keystone

Unused: parliamentarians use the public phone boxes at Bern's parliament building to make calls on their mobile phones (Peter Klaunzer/Keystone) Peter Klaunzer/Keystone

Multi-use: a phone box in Castel San Pietro, canton Ticino, is transformed into a public lending library (Gabriele Putzu/Ti-Press) Gabriele Putzu/Ti-Press

The end: doors of old telephone boxes are recycled as a greenhouse in Les Bois, canton Jura (Sandro Campardo/Keystone) Sandro Campardo/Keystone

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Phone booths used to be places where couples met secretly, where people talked for hours in thick clouds of cigarette smoke, where homeless people sought refuge or children played pranks. But this era is coming to an end. The main Swiss telecom, Swisscom, is beginning to dismantle those left since it is no longer obliged by law to provide them as a public service. 

At the peak in 1995, there were over 58,000 public telephones in Switzerland. But since it first appeared on the market, the mobile phone has slowly been sounding the death knell for public phones.

There are still 5,900 such phones in operation, but they are being phased out. Anyone nostalgic for a soon-to-be bygone era can purchase a booth for around CHF3,000.