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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

#161

Post by pharmakom »

derefr wrote: post #114
eurasiantiger wrote: post #100

Earlier quoted context omitted.

”Who even has a smartphone with an active data plan? Not homeless people” You might be surprised.

I’ve worked in outreach; the average homeless person has a smartphone but can’t afford data, only very basic prepaid call/text only top-up cards. And because they’re frequently losing phones (stolen, damaged by attacker, etc) they can’t keep a stable number, either.

Can be solved with a hotspot that only works for the facilities.

Alternatively flip it around and the toilet scans your QR - this could even be a bit of paper. Ultra low tech.

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

#162

Post by classified »

atoav wrote: post #125
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…

Also: we could have actual (clean) public restrooms everywhere if we were willing to put in the resources.

Which VC would invest in that?

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

#164

Post by rightbyte »

teddyh wrote: post #31
RHSeeger wrote: post #21

Earlier quoted context omitted.

From my point of view, it's not about being "yucky", it's about ruining it for others. If a bathroom is provided, and you convert it to a state that it cannot reasonably be used by others, then you don't get to use the next one. If free food is provided for people and you come in and take it all to sell it elsewhere, then you don't get to partake anymore. There is no way to provide things in a way that people cannot…

The only acceptable short-term solution I can think of at the moment is simply to increase the cleaning until the bathrooms are always acceptable. There are some things which could be done to turn this from prohibitively expensive to simply very expensive one: One idea mentioned in the article is to turn a tradidional timer-based activity to a level-based trigger; i.e. if you have two bathrooms at the same location,…

Ye. People are overstating the problem with having public bathrooms. It is just that it need cleaning like hourly and be closed during night so people don't sleep there.

Even if you don't have users who pee all over the ring and floor the bathroom will look like a mess after 100 visits.

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

#166

Post by napier »

Dalewyn wrote: post #102
ravel-bar-foo wrote: post #23

Earlier quoted context omitted.

What are the options to "improve society" so people don't make a mess in shared bathrooms? PSAs? Public shaming? Collateral put down to use bathrooms? Do you have any better and specific ideas? I can't think of much more gentle and more likely to motivate people to change behavior than a public accountability system, although it is regrettable that it must be run through a for-profit entity and look like a social cre…

>What are the options to "improve society" so people don't make a mess in shared bathrooms? 300% public shaming. Japan is an example of this working, to an unbelievably ideal extent even. Public restrooms in Japan are *clean*, they are spotless and sanitary no matter what time of day you visit one. You can probably eat off of those toilet seats, for all I know. The reason for this is because individuals who do not cl…

That's part of the why but not the root of it. Underneath the social sanction element you mention is the fact that Japanese society raises people to give a thought for the sake of others, otherwise known in the west as manners / the golden rule.

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

#167

Post by tomjen3 »

MonkeyMalarky wrote: post #7
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…

Seriously though, accountability is the missing thing. If getting banned for consistently making a mess is what it takes to get public bathrooms back, then so be it. There's no excuse for the shit I've seen. I'm tired of being denied amenities because of other peoples' degenerate behaviour.

I completely agree with you, and it is important to remember that all it takes is very few people to ruin it for everybody. With accountability comes consequences and that fixes the incentive function.

However I also think the system requires something kinda like forgiveness, or maybe better yet, redemption. If, once you have been kicked out there is nothing you can do to be let back in then nothing incentivises you to better your actions.

Maybe you could be let back in again by paying a cleaning fee, and having to provide pictures after you used the toilet for the next 40 times.

Accountability is super important, but if you don't also have redemption then you end up with the US criminal system.

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

#168

Post by pydry »

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…

Hong Kong also has lots of cheap labor.

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

#169

Post by DoreenMichele »

slumpt_ wrote: post #82
CharlesW wrote: post #28

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The callousness of “street critter” really hits hard.

Hackernews in general can be quite callous towards poverty.

Not as callous as most parts of the Internet.

HN is the garden spot of Ceti Alpha Six.

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

#170

Post by DoreenMichele »

ravel-bar-foo wrote: post #23
teddyh wrote: post #11

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Some people think that a dictatorship is OK as long as the trains all run on time. The right way to solve the problem is not to harden the gatekeeping, but to improve society so that gatekeeping becomes unnecessary. But that’s hard, and has no obvious point where someone can extract money.

What are the options to "improve society" so people don't make a mess in shared bathrooms? PSAs? Public shaming? Collateral put down to use bathrooms? Do you have any better and specific ideas? I can't think of much more gentle and more likely to motivate people to change behavior than a public accountability system, although it is regrettable that it must be run through a for-profit entity and look like a social cre…

You improve society by starting where you are and going from there.

I am glad to see a company trying to do something about this issue. I'm not thrilled with their solution but even if they fail, perhaps it at least gets people to stop accepting that nothing can be done about it.

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