relief for the south side?

[cellio]

The city of Pittsburgh recently installed a high-tech pay toilet a few blocks from where I work. Some of my coworkers went to check it out today. One of them told me that when you pay your quarter and go in, you get a count-down so you can't stay in there all day. (I don't know if the door automatically opens at the end, or what. Actually, I'll bet I know -- the coworker told me that it hoses itself down after each use. That might be incentive to leave promptly.)

The timer is set for 20 minutes.

20 minutes? Who requires 20 minutes? I mean, I know people who would probably carry a six-pack in there, sit down, and process most or all of it in 20 minutes... maximizing the value of the money spent and all that, y'know.

I'm a bit dubious that this toilet will solve the problem it's intended to solve, which is lots of urination in the streets and alleys around a bunch of bars. I'd guess that the people who are too drunk or too inconsiderate to go back into the bar to use the toilet are also too drunk or inconsiderate (or cheap) to insert a quarter into a coin slot. But we'll see, I guess. It would be nice if it worked out.

Comments

[bikergeek.livejournal.com]

20 minutes is probably a worst-case scenario. I can imagine that maybe some handicapped folks might need that kind of time to remove/replace clothing and so forth to do their business. And who wants the door flying open on 'em....

The problem with a lot of bar toilets is that they're incredibly crowded, especially if you're female. I have seen *long* lines outside the womens' rooms in bars, dance clubs, and so on.

Sometimes if your'e on a pub crawl in a busy bar district you can also wait for quite some time to get into the next establishment. Meantime you're out in the cold and have processed quite a bit of beer....

Hell, I'm not even much of a bar patron anymore and I wish there were pay toilets around. I'm tired of wandering around a downtown business district somewhere and seeing sign after sign that says "no public restroom," "restrooms for customers only," etc.

[cellio]

The problem with a lot of bar toilets is that they're incredibly crowded, especially if you're female.

Ah, I hadn't considered that. I guess I am insuffiently experienced when it comes to the bar scene. :-)

I think having more (available) toilets is a good thing. I hope this trial run works out, meaning that it cleans up the streets while not being a huge money sink for the city. There are certainly other neighborhoods that would benefit.

[bikergeek.livejournal.com]

I think it was Robert Heinlein who said you can judge a civilization by the condition of its public toilets.