51–60 of 60 posts
Having run into many public toilets and restrooms which were unusable because they were covered in feces or urine or had crazy homeless people in them harassing people (most recently, in December in Oxford, whose homeless are even worse than SF's, if you can believe it), I often wish I could pay to use a pay toilet. People value more what they pay for, it keeps out people who only want to trash them, and it can pay f…
Pay toilets are super annoying, and very common in Europe. Still, even if you are in NYC, it's hard to find a "free" toilet. Most of the time you have to go to a restaurant, buy something, and then you'll get the key.
When I was in Paris, circa 2000, I came across some interesting pay toilets that were kind of like the Cadillacs of porto-potties. They were located on streets in nice shopping areas. You'd pay for the door to open. They had running water, but no water or fluid in the toilet bowl. Instead, the toilet was more like a concave shelf for peeing and/or pooping on. When you were done, you'd leave through the door, which wo…
Yikes. Who pays for the free toilets, then? I love pay toilets. Most of them are kept clean, and I don't consider finding a clean, available toilet to be a right. I've paid for others to use toilets, and I'll keep doing so. "Don't let people pay for things because poor people might not be able to afford it" is offensive to "poor" people. Oh well. If it makes him feel like he's championing a cause...
>I don't consider finding a clean, available toilet to be a right. Posit a reason why it is socially unacceptable for people to just crap in the street, then.
(This is the difference between a negative and positive right)
If someone has a right to clean, available toilets at all times, then someone must pay to provide those services. I'm happy to donate to the cause, but I don't think the force of law should compel me to part with my money to buy someone a toilet.
Especially because PAY toilets solve this problem so elegantly.
For example, imagine a pay toilet that, when you pay, you have the option to buy access to the same toilet to someone who is unable to pay themselves. I'd do it. This is basically the same idea as the "leave a little, take a little" coin jar many shop vendors have.
If you need 20 cents for some reason, take it. I usually just dump my extra change into that jar. I would do the same in a pay toilet, and often have.
In NL and BE, there are often public urinals during festivals like this: http://toilet-guru.com/pictures/amsterdam-street-dscf3952-tn... But generally, in Europe, there are about zero free public toilets and just a few public pay ones.
Earlier quoted context omitted.
It's quite interesting to see from those numbers how relatively infrequently the pay toilets are actually used: London Victoria has brought in £2,300,511 over 3 years; a quick Google suggests it has a footfall of ~137 million people a year [1]; at 30p a pop, that's really not a lot of people using those toilets as a proportion of the total number of people going through that station. And, in fact, this tallies with m…
The toilets in Victoria are some of the foulest smelling around.
Apparently they can make a decent amount of money, roughly 50% profit: https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2015/sep/07/train-statio...
It's quite interesting to see from those numbers how relatively infrequently the pay toilets are actually used: London Victoria has brought in £2,300,511 over 3 years; a quick Google suggests it has a footfall of ~137 million people a year [1]; at 30p a pop, that's really not a lot of people using those toilets as a proportion of the total number of people going through that station. And, in fact, this tallies with m…
I guess many people have just got off a train, or are about to get on a train, and so made other arrangements.
When I was in Paris, circa 2000, I came across some interesting pay toilets that were kind of like the Cadillacs of porto-potties. They were located on streets in nice shopping areas. You'd pay for the door to open. They had running water, but no water or fluid in the toilet bowl. Instead, the toilet was more like a concave shelf for peeing and/or pooping on. When you were done, you'd leave through the door, which wo…
The toilets where one could go for a large delivery required a coin (IIRC 20 French Franc), and were on a timer. So as a child I was pressured to do my duty swiftly. While I was doing my duty, the door unlocked, because my time was apparently up. I found this very intimidating to my privacy, and it increased the stress I already had to quickly do my duty. I'm not sure if I did finish or not, but I do remember feeling very upset, and I also found the system ridiculous. Especially given nobody was waiting for me to finish my turn, and the toilets weren't clean either because the place smelled horrendous.
Nowadays, if I pay for a toilet, I want it to be clean. (Although as a man at least peeing is already free if you really have to. Without the need for additional tools.)
I did read a story on HN about German cities providing free (formerly paid) toilets. This increases happiness of tourists, increasing the chance tourists come (back) to these cities. The money is paid for by the local businesses. But this increases their profits because they sell more due to more/happier tourists.