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Airpnp: Like Airbnb, but for toilets

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Re: Airpnp: Like Airbnb, but for toilets

#92
post #60
post #32

Earlier quoted context omitted.

somewhat-related: I recently learned that there are public restrooms in Penn Station! So if you're out and about in midtown, there's an option.

Just to be clear, there are rooms that get peed in. Whether they meet the technical definition of "bathroom" is up in the air.

So not all public facilities have a bathtub in them, is what you are saying?

Re: Airpnp: Like Airbnb, but for toilets

#93

Even Seinfeld thought this was a great idea: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ITluapajP4w

Although this clip isn't from Seinfeld, the topic certainly did arise there. In addition to the episode cglace (https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=7341503) mentions, which I don't remember, there was an episode where George showed Jerry that, given any address, he could name the nearest public bathroom.

Re: Airpnp: Like Airbnb, but for toilets

#94

Charging to use the restroom urgently gets close to violating the rules of civil society in my books. Yes, I know city governments do it in many big cities. Yes, I know it is the norm in many parts of Europe. But still ... I've had a few businesses (even chains) in NYC insist that I purchase something before using their restroom. As someone who has a comfortable living, I don't hesitate. At the same time, I make a me…

I had the recent disdain of discovering that one of the restrooms at the Louvre museum cost 2 EUR to use. Yeah. This trend should probably die.

Re: Airpnp: Like Airbnb, but for toilets

#95
My closest toilet is in Japan (I'm in Australia)

I would have thought that being a two sided market, any available public information would have been already entered, rather than relying on others to submit toilets.

For example, entering all 33,000 McDonalds locations would have been a great start. I'm pretty sure that is a true global source of toilet location data.

Re: Airpnp: Like Airbnb, but for toilets

#96

This is why I am just utterly confused about what people are willing to do to "solve a problem" or "jump on a trend". From a planning perspective, do users have to set this up with some time in advance. If I were to rent out my toilet, I wouldn't really want to be sitting around like a bathroom attendant waiting for strangers to enlist my accommodations. If this were during a big event in my area, I'd rather a) be at…

> If I were on the other end of the transaction, I wouldn't know when nature would be calling. Making it hard to figure out in advance where I need to "rent" a toilet.

I think the idea is that the app allows you to find a toilet immediately in your immediate area -- not that you reserve, for example, a toilet for 5 minutes at 10:30 PM on Sunday three weeks in advance.

Re: Airpnp: Like Airbnb, but for toilets

#97
post #17

I've joked around with this idea before, except I called it Püber. In all seriousness, this is an issue I deal with frequently in NYC. I'm out and about in Manhattan all day, get struck by the need to pee, and then run around trying to find any place with a restroom. Paying a buck or two would be a negligible cost if it meant immediate relief. If they expanded and got enough supply, I'd definitely use their service.

Try having the same issue on your first time in NYC, with the added difficulty of being in a wheelchair! I did, and I'd even pay a monthly fee for something like this if I could get at a list of confirmed wheelchair-accessible bathrooms.

Re: Airpnp: Like Airbnb, but for toilets

#98
post #90

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Charging for restrooms is also a bit stupid in some cases. I've run into quite a few restrooms here in Denmark where you need to pay by inserting a coin, typically only 2DKK. That's all well an good, the money goes to keep the restrooms clean and you avoid a lot of misuse. The stupid part is that a rather large number of people don't carry cash anymore. The local bus and train terminals are 2DKK to use the restrooms,…

Yeah, this drives me crazy. At King's Cross in London (which I'm at at least once a week) it's 30p - if I have cash it's most likely notes not change, so even though they have machines to give change I don't really want to spend the rest of the day with £9.70 or £19.70 in cash. Would be even worse abroad (though can't think of a time I've run into it), as apart from places where cards aren't enough (of the places I g…

At King's Cross in London (which I'm at at least once a week) it's 30p

And free across the road at St Pancras...

Tho' in all stations it should be free if you have a ticket/travelcard/oyster/whatever.

Re: Airpnp: Like Airbnb, but for toilets

#100

This is good news for trans and gender-ambiguous people if you could make sure it marks (and can be searched for) the availability of gender neutral facilities where they won't get hassle.

There's also http://www.safe2pee.org (now potentially defunct) and http://www.refugerestrooms.org/
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