Should paid toilets make a comeback?

[Bootes Void]

This is for people specifically in North America. Do you support paid toilets and should they make a comeback?

[President Punxsutawney Phil]

Obvious No vote

[The world will shine with light in our nightmare]

I don't want people sh!tting on the street, no.

[dead0man]

of course not, what kind of barbaric cultures still make you pay to pee?

[jamestroll]

I was always amused when I saw public restrooms being closed during covid for sanitation reasons.

[Property Representative of the Harold Holt Swimming Centre]

A sh**tty idea, so to speak. 

[Ferguson97]

What kind of barbaric country makes you pay to use a public restroom?

[Numberbit]

[Santander]

What kind of barbaric country makes you pay to use a public restroom?

Very common in Europe, although you can just step over a laughably low barrier in many cases.

But no, pay toilets won't be a thing in North America because cities are just designed differently, people move around them differently, and retail/commercial spaces are different.

[AGA]

Yes, there would be more toilets available to the public, and they would be in better condition too. Fast food restaurants often make you buy something to use the bathroom anyway.

[Santander]

Yes, there would be more toilets available to the public, and they would be in better condition too. Fast food restaurants often make you buy something to use the bathroom anyway.

lol.

[Kingpoleon]

Yes, there would be more toilets available to the public, and they would be in better condition too. Fast food restaurants often make you buy something to use the bathroom anyway.

Extraordinary claims require extraordinary evidence.

[TML]

What kind of barbaric country makes you pay to use a public restroom?

My native country of China has plenty of these.

[An American Tail: Fubart Goes West]

of course not, what kind of barbaric cultures still make you pay to pee?

What I will say in response to this is that back in the day, urinals were often free while stalls were charged. That obviously puts women at a disadvantage and was one of the driving forces behind eliminating pay toilets here.

[AGA]

Yes, there would be more toilets available to the public, and they would be in better condition too. Fast food restaurants often make you buy something to use the bathroom anyway.

Extraordinary claims require extraordinary evidence.

It's common sense. Why would anyone set up a free public toilet and maintain it? Toilet access is like any other good and most efficiently procured and distributed through the free market. Banning pay toilets did not result in free toilets popping up everywhere in the US. People just use store bathrooms or government-owned bathrooms instead (which are often dirty).

[The world will shine with light in our nightmare]

Yes, there would be more toilets available to the public, and they would be in better condition too. Fast food restaurants often make you buy something to use the bathroom anyway.

Extraordinary claims require extraordinary evidence.

It's common sense. Why would anyone set up a free public toilet and maintain it? Toilet access is like any other good and most efficiently procured and distributed through the free market. Banning pay toilets did not result in free toilets popping up everywhere in the US. People just use store bathrooms or government-owned bathrooms instead (which are often dirty).

Do you live in NYC? I would think that the piss-smelling subways would be a good argument against pay toilets in themselves.

Public bathrooms are often dirty, especially ones in fast food restaurants. Where do you expect poor people or people without coins on hand to go?

[AGA]

Yes, there would be more toilets available to the public, and they would be in better condition too. Fast food restaurants often make you buy something to use the bathroom anyway.

Extraordinary claims require extraordinary evidence.

It's common sense. Why would anyone set up a free public toilet and maintain it? Toilet access is like any other good and most efficiently procured and distributed through the free market. Banning pay toilets did not result in free toilets popping up everywhere in the US. People just use store bathrooms or government-owned bathrooms instead (which are often dirty).

Do you live in NYC? I would think that the piss-smelling subways would be a good argument against pay toilets in themselves.

Public bathrooms are often dirty, especially ones in fast food restaurants. Where do you expect poor people or people without coins on hand to go?

It would be really cheap.

[I spent the winter writing songs about getting better]

Pay toilets actually used to be pretty common in the US although even I've never encountered one, they started declining by the time the 80s began. One reason was the noted one above, they effectively discriminated against women. However the real reason for them wasn't to generate revenue (which was pretty low regardless) but actually to keep the stalls free of vandalism and clean. The idea was that if you had to pay for the privilege you'd be more respectful and it would keep people out who wanted to go in to cause trouble. But that didn't work because people would often get angry and trash the bathroom out of spite anyway.

[An American Tail: Fubart Goes West]

Pay toilets actually used to be pretty common in the US although even I've never encountered one, they started declining by the time the 80s began. One reason was the noted one above, they effectively discriminated against women. However the real reason for them wasn't to generate revenue (which was pretty low regardless) but actually to keep the stalls free of vandalism and clean. The idea was that if you had to pay for the privilege you'd be more respectful and it would keep people out who wanted to go in to cause trouble. But that didn't work because people would often get angry and trash the bathroom out of spite anyway.

Just mentioned this to my mom and she said that when she was little her mom would have her go under the door to unlock it and that it was common to just hold the door open if someone else was right there waiting.

[𝕭𝖆𝖕𝖙𝖎𝖘𝖙𝖆 𝕸𝖎𝖓𝖔𝖑𝖆]

Slight off-topic but the fact that fast food restaurants and not bars were mentioned in this thread when talking about store bathrooms may be an unimportant detail yet as a non-American it feels striking and oddly revealing.