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D.C.-area startup wants to solve the public bathroom problem

washingtonian.com

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Re: D.C.-area startup wants to solve the public bathroom problem

#151

Post by withinboredom »

luplex wrote: post #131

If you block people from using the bathroom, they will use the outside of the bathroom. A better solution would be to clean them often.

I don't know why you're downvoted. My son had to really do a pee (he was 3-4?) and the staff at a grocery store wouldn't let him use their bathroom. I asked: "do you really want to clean pee off the floor, because that is his next option." They told us to leave so I had him pee on the inside of the front door and we left, never to return.

Edit: we had a cart full of food doing proper grocery shopping, we weren't there to just to use the bathroom.

Re: D.C.-area startup wants to solve the public bathroom problem

#152

Post by arlort »

dtonon wrote: post #146
imgabe wrote: post #37

I don't know why cities don't offer a tax break to businesses to make their bathrooms publicly available. Make it enough that they can hire an extra employee to make sure there's someone to check the bathroom periodically and do some random checks to make sure businesses aren't cheating. It would have to be cheaper than operating separate public bathrooms. I live in Hong Kong and am still a little amazed at the ubiqu…

> or trying to find a coffee shop that will let you use its restroom In Italy all the public business like coffee shops ("bars") have to let free access to the toilet by law, even if you don't buy anything.

This is actually not true, or rather, it varies by municipality. The national law applies only to customers

Re: D.C.-area startup wants to solve the public bathroom problem

#154

Post by mnahkies »

technion wrote: post #104
timuralp wrote: post #39

Earlier quoted context omitted.

As a Seattle dweller and an active person, finding a bathroom during a long run or a bike ride is difficult. There are large swaths of the city with no bathrooms. In commercial areas, having to meander through a store to use a restroom is bad for the person trying to use it and the other store customers. Seattle is failing in this regard for all its citizens, not just "street critters". Agreed that everyone should ha…

If you could explain to an Australian here: I have either a pub or a McDonalds every two blocks that any person can walk into and use a restroom. This would include industrial areas. Is that not the case in Seattle?

When I was in the states I found that a lot of places would have locks / codes on the bathrooms that required you to purchase something prior to using it. Not fun when you're desperate to go and there's a big queue.

The European model is normally coin operated which is still a little annoying but at least if you know and carry a few coins you can get in quickly.

Re: D.C.-area startup wants to solve the public bathroom problem

#156

Post by mnahkies »

withinboredom wrote: post #151
luplex wrote: post #131

If you block people from using the bathroom, they will use the outside of the bathroom. A better solution would be to clean them often.

I don't know why you're downvoted. My son had to really do a pee (he was 3-4?) and the staff at a grocery store wouldn't let him use their bathroom. I asked: "do you really want to clean pee off the floor, because that is his next option." They told us to leave so I had him pee on the inside of the front door and we left, never to return. Edit: we had a cart full of food doing proper grocery shopping, we weren't ther…

This is really the crux of the issue, if you gotta go you gotta go. Sure you will try to find a suitable place but eventually you get to make a decision between your pants and whatever is around (and hence the need for high enough density of publicly accessible facilities)

Re: D.C.-area startup wants to solve the public bathroom problem

#157

Post by jotm »

creato wrote: post #84
askvictor wrote: post #66

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Education. Some of which needs to happen through parenting, so this is a multi-generational concept. But to start with, properly fund an education system.

You think people are pooping on the sidewalk because they don’t know any better? Their first grade teacher failed them?

We were taught civics and society alongside math. Children/pupils/young adults also did cleaning, tree planting, everyday group work. I'm surprised some countries don't have that, it helps make a better society.

Re: D.C.-area startup wants to solve the public bathroom problem

#158

Post by classified »

teddyh wrote: post #3

> User IDs are part of Throne’s accountability system: After you use a restroom, you’re asked to rate its cleanliness. Meanwhile, each user gets a “Throne score,” similar to Uber, and repeat offenders who abuse the restroom will be blocked. Weight sensors also track if someone’s been in the bathroom too long. “Very few people create issues in [public] bathrooms, don’t respect that amenity, and then ruin it for the ma…

> repeat offenders who abuse the restroom will be blocked.

Forcing the banned people to use some street or park for their relief would be better? They obviously don't care where the literal shit piles up as long as it doesn't diminish their profits.

Re: D.C.-area startup wants to solve the public bathroom problem

#159

Post by idontwantthis »

hackerlight wrote: post #116
idontwantthis wrote: post #12

JFC can I not take a shit without someone tracking me? Hey American cities! Charge $1 to use a toilet like they do in Europe.

That would exclude the worst offenders. But it doesn't solve the incentive problem of tragedy of the commons. Once people have paid $1, that's immediately a sunk cost, and from then people have no reason (aside from morals, which are absent in some people) not to shit on the toilet seat and walk out. But it still may be an alright solution (when combined with regular cleaners), even if it isn't a perfect one.

The dollar is used to pay for cleaning and attendance. This is an existing system. The US used to do it.

Re: D.C.-area startup wants to solve the public bathroom problem

#160

Post by rhdunn »

freeone3000 wrote: post #103
borski wrote: post #95

Earlier quoted context omitted.

What I’m really interested in is why they were deemed sexist; in Europe, which I just came back from visiting, paid toilets were everywhere and they were not usually particularly clean.

A fee was charged for stall use, but not for urinal use.

So put the charge on the entrance to the bathroom so you have to pay to get into the bathroom. That is how bathrooms in London train stations and airports work. Then it does not matter if you are going to use the urinal or stall, or even the wash basins.
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