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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
by nessus42 10y ago
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 would lock behind you, and then for a minute or two, it would go through a self-cleaning cycle, making itself (putatively) spotless for the next customer.
They even had the same idea scaled up to entire motels. Near Lyon, I needed to catch 3 hours of zzz's before going to the airport. I found a motel called "Formule 1". It was a seemingly automated motel. You hardly ever saw an employee.
To park your car, you slid your credit card through a card reader at the parking lot gate, and it charged you $20 or so. You would be given a receipt with a combination number for the front door and for your room.
The bathrooms were down the hall from your room. They were somewhat similar to the fancy porto-poties. Though they also had showers in them. The shower was on a timer. When you left the bathroom, the door would lock behind you for a while, as it would go through its cleaning cycle.
France is strange!
- Gargoyle 10y agoCould have been an Exeloo, made by a company out of New Zealand. A guy I used to know was their US rep for a while, got a few installed in some subway systems in the US. I lost track of him and his toilet ventures, I wonder if they're still around... http://www.exeloo.com/ http://www.exeloo.com/
- kahirsch 10y agohttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sanisette https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sanisette
- nessus42 10y agoYes, that's exactly what I saw and used!
- brianwawok 10y agoSF had these minus the pay. Still disgusting inside. Paper rammed all over. Maybe the price was part of why it worked
- polotics 10y agovery high cost of labor, due to expenditures of the state, makes automation look better
- Fnoord 10y agoI remember going on vacation as a child (lets say I was 7, not sure) to Spain with my parents and friends of us. We travelled by car using the Route du Soleil. Besides the highway there were parking stations where one could park the car for a break. There was also a building reminiscent of a large public bathroom. It contained toilets for men, toilets for females / doing a large delivery (duty), and even showers. I found the showers peculiar given it was on a highway. It was nowhere near as odd as my experience on the toilet though. 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.