Where have all the pay toilets gone?

i’ve never seen a pay toilet thats so weird. where would they be like just on the side of the street or something? hows that work?

Well, they are much more common in other countries, especially in Europe, than here. I think it is a class thing. Keep the poor down.

@nighttripper- Throughout the 60’s,70’s and 80’s some bathroom stalls had boxes with coin slots that locked the stall door. You had to put a coin in to unlock it so you could use the toilet. Of course, you could crawl under, but that could be pretty gross.

There were always pay toilets in Ecuador especially at bus terminals. But I’ve never seen one in the states.

@Breefield New York City made a big deal of installing some new ones this year. There are 20 so far. http://cityroom.blogs.nytimes.com/2008/01/10/a-pay-toilet-opens-no-need-to-hold-everything/?hp

The notion being that the pay toilets are nicer than the ones for the rest of the public. Does that mean that the person cleaning the toilets is told to clean only the pay toilets?

There is an awesome one at the corner of Stanyan and Waller, 738 Stanyan Street to be exact (facing West using Google Street View) in San Francisco. One block from Haight Street. If only this toilet could talk, I bet it would tell some crazy stories.

@shilolo- The ones in SF are different. They are more like booths and are automatically washed down after each use. Those ones are kinda cool, and clean. At least the ones I’ve seen there. The ones I’m referring to took coins so that you could open the stall door and step inside. These stalls were just like the crappy (no pun intended), dirty free stalls found in public restrooms.

There are some in San Francisco.

@Astro. Oops, sorry for the confusion. I walk past that booth all the time when I go into Golden Gate Park. Let me tell you though, they aren’t cleaned as often as you think…

I remember backpacking through Europe, and in some places, you actually had to pay a person at the front to use the public toilet. I vividly remember in Prague having to pay double to use the Cabina (booth) as opposed to the Pisoar (not sure I spelled that right) for peeing.

People finally decided that pooping should be free.

I used to see them at fast food restaurants and greyhound bus stations in bigger cities. But you’re right. I haven’t seen them in a long time.

Used to use a bright red one every now and then, it was a cubicle-style, even had windows so there was a pleasant streetside view. Oddly, the coin slot was on the inside of the cubicle. Very first class, it even had a telephone in there for making calls while on the pot.

They have them all over Germany.

I’m not talking about the Peep Show!

No peep shows, just bathrooms. ;)

Not sure, but some might have thought it was a phone booth.