The Villager has the poop on an item on this month's CB3 agenda. As Lesley Sussman reports, the Department of Transportation plans to install an Automatic Public Toilet (A.P.T.) at the southeast corner of First Avenue and First Street on the small concrete island that separates Houston and First Streets.
Per The Villager:
The first A.P.T. was installed three years ago in Madison Square Park and is one of 20 D.O.T. plans for the city. There are currently three A.P.T.’s in operation.
The toilet is self-cleaning and would cost 25 cents to use. Operating hours would be 8 a.m. to 8 p.m. — not much solace for clubgoers after a night of beer swigging.
Image via.
So it's going to be set up right by the trees on that island? The thing is ugly and will be a blight. Too bad they couldn't have chosen a more discreet location. And that thing better be really good at self cleaning cuz guarantee the people who will use it the most are the guys selling junk outside the 2nd Avenue train station.
ReplyDeleteShould we start a betting pool to see how long it lasts? I give it 72 hours before it goes out of service for the first time. Why the time limitation on Baptist hours.
ReplyDeleteFirst bike lanes, now these!
ReplyDeletei am confident that this news item will provide us with endless hours of enjoyment. i think i'm gonna make a documentary!!!
ReplyDeletegood -- no need for me to go starbucks
ReplyDeleteon the other hand, i hope they maintain this well and would last longer than the one in mad sq. park. at first was great, until it started breaking down frequently; it is out of order most of the times nowadays
We will not be anywhere near fully civilized until we can figure out how to install these everywhere in the city. People who would call these things a blight have likely never had to deal with drunk assholes pissing on the sidewalk, in between parked cars, their front door (yes, this happened to me). It happens every night here in the East Village. Public toilets might not be your favorite thing to see but it's much better than having people piss all over the place like dogs.
ReplyDeleteAlso, they ought to charge a lot more, at least a dollar. People will pay a premium for a clean serviceable facility. They say this thing is self-cleaning but believe you me, this is new york, home of the most uncivilized animals in society-- people will innovate, will find a way to foul up this thing. How long before some gruesome, unfortunate discovery is made inside.
I definitely think you should be charged more than a quarter. Also here's a NY Times article describing the APT in more detail:
ReplyDeletehttp://www.nytimes.com/2008/01/11/nyregion/11toilet.html?_r=1&ref=nyregion&oref=slogin
The MTA should be installing these inside each subway entrance area. Set them up to ding your Metro card; Priced "accordingly"(?)
ReplyDeleteThey would be much better monitored in the token booth area as well, so people don't mess with them. (TA cops and token clerks {whatever's left of those guys})
in england they are under the street and pretty clean.
ReplyDeletei remember when a lot of subway stations had toilets. they became dangerous, smelly and awful and were closed.
for a while grand central, pen station and port authority (and of course some bars and the libraries) were the only places with public restrooms and they too were a mess.
not so bad now.
it would be great to have more public toilets around but people being what they are will make it something nobody wants on their block.