7 ms·

$90k upfront plus $12k /year? Perhaps these public restrooms are better than the alternative, but it seems to me that Germany has successfully solved this issue

• User23 8y ago
  Germany has the significant advantage of being mostly populated by Germans, who are notorious for their adherence to rules.
  • lozenge 8y ago
    Or, Germany's welfare system and mental health laws mean their citizens are satisfied or at least kept somewhere warm and clean.
    • deleted 8y ago
      [deleted]
  • TomMarius 8y ago
    > who are notorious for their adherence to rules. That is a meme the Prussians have created to look more scary - to all other Germans.
    • darkpuma 8y ago
      Counterpoint: jaywalking is virtually nonexistent in Germany.
      • zaarn 8y ago
        Counteproint: in my town, jaywalking is the norm because there are only 2 traffic lights. I regularly see people jaywalk in the city as well. Usually the reasons for jaywalking are either 1) the road is empty or 2) late for a train/tram/bus. edit: It should also be noted that jaywalking is not illegal in germany IF 1) you're not crossing the road at an intersection with traffic lights for pedestrians AND it is red or 2) you're crossing the road in the shortest and fastest manner without impeding, endangering or otherwise causing trouble in traffic. So if you walked over the road, a police officer could at worst give you a stern talking to. If you crossed a road with a red light for pedestrians, you'd get a 5€ fine.
        • mseidl 8y ago
          I was stopped by a cop in Berlin for jaywalking. He didn't give me a ticket. But there were no cars around either. There is also an unspoken rule for jaywalking, don't do it around kids. I also saw 3 tween girls walking across the street on a green, they were right around half way when the crosswalk light turned red. They all turned around and went back. It was kind of funny. My American friend told me a funny story where he was drinking with German friends, and they walk back at like 3am with no cars in sight and he of course crosses the street and all the Germans were back at other side waiting for it to turn green.
          • thomasz 8y ago
            As always with these kind of things, you should consider explanations which do not require sweeping assumptions about national mentalities. I'm no sociologist, but I'm pretty sure that differences in policing priorities play a big role here. Being fined or at least reprimanded for jaywalking is very common. On the other hand, speeding tickets are a joke, and therefore the notoriously rule adhering Germans do not give a flying fuck about speed limits.
            • TomMarius 8y ago
              I found out that jaywalking is mostly about being from a big busy city (everyone jaywalks because otherwise you would stand more than walk), or being from a small city (no one jaywalks as the semaphores are sensible and traffic low) and a village (everyone jaywalks because there is not even a pavement, however city is scary). Religion plays a role although I've noticed that it's probably just because the religious fathers I know of are very strict.
      • rndgermandude 8y ago
        Jaywalking is rampant in Germany, tho a bit more "polite" (if you can call it that) from what I am observing every day. People will jaywalk when they think it is safe and when there are no small children around (to avoid being a bad role model), and that is my MO as well; as opposed to the mentality I have seen in other countries where it seemed to me a lot of people will just cross the street no matter whether it's safe or not and let the motorists deal with not hitting anybody.
        • darkpuma 8y ago
          Whether or not the motorist is likely to be capable of stopping in time is factored into the "is it safe?" calculus that people in jaywalking cultures perform. For instance in Philadelphia when it snows, people are more conservative in their jaywalking because they know the stopping distance of a car on ice is longer than a car on dry asphalt.
          • rndgermandude 8y ago
            If a motorist would have to stop for you, or even would have to significantly slow down, then no, it's not considered safe, or "polite". Because the driver may not do that and might hit you.
    • User23 8y ago
      Even the Swabians follow the rules, unless you mean the grammatical ones.
• jorblumesea 8y ago
  Have you been to Portland? Local restaurants don't want to deal with the street folks there.
• Simulacra 8y ago
  The few times that I went to a restroom at a German business, particularly restaurants, there was usually an attendant that took care of the restroom and you had to leave a tip. I could never see American businesses willingly opening their restrooms to the homeless, let alone having a full-time attendant to watch over them.
  • Kluny 8y ago
    I'm not sure when that was, but when I was in Germany in 2017 my experience was that every gas station had a washroom that was available to the public at a cost of about 1 euro. There was no attendant, but a coin-operated gate. The washrooms were large, well lit, perfectly clean, had several stalls and often showers as well. It's a sharp contrast to the free washroom experience in most North American gas stations, which is a single stall that you need to request a key for, usually horrifyingly dirty. I resented paying the euro a bit, but the format made a lot of sense to me.
    • petepete 8y ago
      The toilets in the station I commute via daily are like this but without taking contactless payment it's of little use to me. I barely-ever carry cash and never coinage.
      • Moter8 8y ago
        I travel quite a bit on the weekends, on the way to my girlfriend, and all toilets that I've seen are nfc-enabled (Baden-Württemberg -- Bayern). Except for Crailsheim. There are Toilets by the Bahn, but are closed at 18:00 or so.
    • belorn 8y ago
      If you got the pay for it I doubt that it is actually solving the problem of people urinating in the street. The main question seems to be if there is enough business that provide the facility for free to the public.
    • Cthulhu_ 8y ago