I don't doubt many legit uses, but similar subjective observation in London. Frequently vandalised, message board for sex workers, or defacto public urinals. It was surprisingly easy to get one removed from a nearby street given minimal usage and general abuse.

Or elderly people who do not have mobile phones, or have one but never use it, or forget to take it, or shut it off.

It is strange to get rid of them they are still working phones.

My mother finds phone screens hard to see, the phone hard to hear. She can't hear it ring or assumes it's something else. If it is near her the sound startles her and makes her jump.

To our generation it's like telling us mobile phones will be discontinued in favour of the a technology.