12 ms·

Airpnp: Like Airbnb, but for toilets

125 points by naren87 13y ago

tzury 13y ago
Curb Your Enthusiasm -- iToilet by Gorge Costansa. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ITluapajP4w http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ITluapajP4w
unwind 13y ago
The name, while humorous, seems rather likely to provoke Airbnb. The risk of confusing the two is simply too great. Other than that, I wonder how this works for private customers; seems the number of ... transactions per unit of time can be a lot higher than for somewhere to sleep.
- chimeracoder 13y ago
  There's another way that "AirPNP" could be misinterpreted, to humorous effect: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Party_and_play https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Party_and_play (It's especially amusing when you take into account the stories (whether exaggerated/apocryphal or not) of people using AirBNB as a means to identify places to hold such "parties").
platelets 13y ago
Is it almost too gimmicky to be taking seriously? I guess a business could host their toilet on the site for free to divert passing traffic into their store?
- evan_ 13y ago
  Nathan For You had this idea last year: http://m.comedycentral.com/videos/video.rbml?id=p707vf http://m.comedycentral.com/videos/video.rbml?id=p707vf
raldi 13y ago
It’s tragic that this is a clear-cut trademark violation, because the name is otherwise perfect.
michaelfeathers 13y ago
March 4th, 2014 - The Sharing Economy jumps the shark.
acconrad 13y ago
We're a month early on Google April fools product launches
cowls 13y ago
I seriously hope this is a joke
- jasonlfunk 13y ago
  Why? It's a great solution to a very common problem.
frankdenbow 13y ago
Well Sit or Squat worked so this may also: http://www.cultofmac.com/9799/charmin-sponsors-sit-or-squat-toilet-finder-app/ http://www.cultofmac.com/9799/charmin-sponsors-sit-or-squat-...
krmmalik 13y ago
All jokes aside, I know I would definitely use this service. I have bathroom issues all the time. Just recently I was in central london on a busy saturday night and finding a toilet was seriously hard work. Macdonalds had long queues for toilets, so did many other retail outlets and many tube stations dont have toilets. I know residential areas are a little further out from the city, but i'm sure people could get creative and make it work. I'd even check the toilet "spots" before I went to a crowded area so I know i could pop in when needed. On the flip-side, acting as a host however, I dont think I could do it. With the state of toilets in most service stations, I couldn't give up my toilet to someone to come in and pee all over the seat or forget to flush or something. The irony is that, that's going to be the real sticking point.
- kbenson 13y ago
  Presumably, when making consistent money from a toilet, more resources can be allocated to keeping it clean and presentable. Possibly cleaned every few minutes. That would ba a horrible job.
  - nobodysfool 13y ago
    I'd just lock the front door when they come in to use the restroom, inspect the toilet after they are done, and unlock it only after it's clean. Simple as that.
    - djur 13y ago
      That would, in all likelihood, be illegal. In a lot of jurisdictions it'd be kidnapping.
      - dragonwriter 13y ago
        I think the more likely charge, technically, is false imprisonment.
    - waterfowl 13y ago
      Who cares about legality, what a creepy awkward thing to do.
turnip1979 13y ago
Charging to use the restroom urgently gets close to violating the rules of civil society in my books. Yes, I know city governments do it in many big cities. Yes, I know it is the norm in many parts of Europe. But still ... I've had a few businesses (even chains) in NYC insist that I purchase something before using their restroom. As someone who has a comfortable living, I don't hesitate. At the same time, I make a mental note to not give that store my business if I can help it. The whole kindness to strangers thing .. yeah .. that's mostly dead. I understand the problems caused by homeless individuals when using restrooms or camping out in stores. I even get that the rest room maintenance costs money. In Europe, when you have to pay those old ladies to use the restroom to pee ... that's their income. But still ... when you turn away someone when they urgently need to go ... that's just wrong.
- mrweasel 13y ago
  Charging for restrooms is also a bit stupid in some cases. I've run into quite a few restrooms here in Denmark where you need to pay by inserting a coin, typically only 2DKK. That's all well an good, the money goes to keep the restrooms clean and you avoid a lot of misuse. The stupid part is that a rather large number of people don't carry cash anymore. The local bus and train terminals are 2DKK to use the restrooms, but you do really use cash to pay for your travels anymore, so the assumption that you would have a 2DKK coin is a bit flawed. Why can't I use the same card I use to check-in to bus/train to check-in to the restrooms?
  - Evgeny 13y ago
    It's even worse than that if you consider that bus or train stations tend to be the places where a lot of tourists transit. If I spend just a few hours in a country it does not make much sense to obtain local cash, especially coins which will be unusable as soon as I leave the country. On the other hand, the chances that I will need a restroom at least once in a few hours are quite high ...
  - kalleboo 13y ago
    Here across the Sound in Malmö they installed toilet doors that you unlock via premium SMS. Of course, all too late they realized that locks out any tourists without a local phone number...
bowlofpetunias 13y ago
Living in the center of Amsterdam, I could make a fortune with this on Queensday.
- maxgaudin 13y ago
  Hi there. I'm a cofounder at Airpnp. If you're really interested I'd like to talk to you about getting your bathroom going for Queen's Day. Email me at max@airpnp.co
  - SimHacker 13y ago
    You might also want to talk with this guy at the Folsom Street Fair in San Francisco: http://happyurinal.tumblr.com/post/11493020151/puppet-urinal-by-luckysob http://happyurinal.tumblr.com/post/11493020151/puppet-urinal... That approach might work pretty well on Queen's Day in Amsterdam, too. (Well it's going to be known as King's Day from now on, now that the queen has abdicated.)
akumen 13y ago
Who said nobody is innovating! Now this is what I call disruptive!
kyro 13y ago
I've joked around with this idea before, except I called it Püber. In all seriousness, this is an issue I deal with frequently in NYC. I'm out and about in Manhattan all day, get struck by the need to pee, and then run around trying to find any place with a restroom. Paying a buck or two would be a negligible cost if it meant immediate relief. If they expanded and got enough supply, I'd definitely use their service.
- vrikis 13y ago
  I went to visit NYC in 2012 and was so surprised by the lack of clean toilets around... I would've paid $5 for a good, CLEAN toilet. Usually I just go to Starbucks (works well in Europe), but I found them pretty horrible in NYC.. I'd use a service like this.
  - garethsprice 13y ago
    McDonalds appears to have a policy of allowing non-customers to use their bathrooms too. Starbucks or McDonalds are my go-to toilets in NYC.
    - vrikis 13y ago
      Very true. If anyone ever comes to the UK, I find McDonalds to be amongst the cleanest toilets!
  - aestra 13y ago
    I go to New York City all the time (but I don't live there) and I've never had an issue with finding a clean bathroom, ever. Boston is a different story though I've only been there a handful of times. Walk into Starbucks or McDonalds, always worked for me. Never had a cleanness problem. I usually only pee when I am in an establishment as a customer though.
- memset 13y ago
  somewhat-related: I recently learned that there are public restrooms in Penn Station! So if you're out and about in midtown, there's an option.
sharkweek 13y ago
Even Seinfeld thought this was a great idea: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ITluapajP4w http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ITluapajP4w
- angry_albatross 13y ago
  Wait a minute... I'm pretty sure that Seinfeld and the iPhone did not overlap in time...
- enscr 13y ago
  Which year was this shot in? (talks about iPhone) Edit : Found it http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Seinfeld_(Curb_Your_Enthusiasm) http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Seinfeld_(Curb_Your_Enthusiasm)
  - sharkweek 13y ago
    It's from a recent season of Curb Your Enthusiasm, where the whole season is about a Seinfeld reunion episode - "to make up for the terrible original finale"
- kissickas 13y ago
  FWIW, that was from Curb Your Enthusiasm. Seinfeld was over long before Madoff and iPhones.
- cglace 13y ago
  There is a great Seinfeld episode where Jerry, George, and Kramer all pretend to be interested in a home for sale so that they can use the bathroom.
- JadeNB 13y ago
  Although this clip isn't from Seinfeld, the topic certainly did arise there. In addition to the episode cglace (https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=7341503 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=7341503) mentions, which I don't remember, there was an episode where George showed Jerry that, given any address, he could name the nearest public bathroom.
vpontis 13y ago
Are you able to list your neighbor's lawn?
noarchy 13y ago
I'll assuming that this isn't a joke story. I'm imagining, with some amusement, the inevitable first clash with a city over such a service. You just know someone will complain that this clashes with obscure or arcane zoning laws.
- deleted 13y ago
  [deleted]
  - spinlock 13y ago
    I really don't see this being used in rural areas with septic systems. It seems like this problem only really exists in cities where everyone is on the sewer line. That being said, people get pissed when neighbors airbnb their apartments because of strangers in the building. Multiply that by 20 with randoms using the can and I think you could have some really pissed off neighbors.
    - rayiner 13y ago
      Especially because, let's face it, a lot of those people will be drunk.
    - normloman 13y ago
      Rural areas often host large music festivals and state fairs, which tend to have crummy porta-johns. The rural town where I grew up was packed every summer with campers, antique collectors, and bike riders, and I'm sure some of them would pay to use a nice toilet for a change. And septic systems aren't limited to just rural areas. Many suburbs and towns have them too.
- zhte415 13y ago
  Interestingly (or at least I find it so) any Public House (i.e. Pub) in the UK is required by license and law to let any member of the public use their bathroom, and also to provide fresh water, for no fee. The toilets do not have to be located in the main building, but be within the property of the main building. This applies to neither private clubs nor private businesses (i.e. shops).
keithg 13y ago
As a runner, I'm always looking out for portables and taking mental notes because you never know when you're going to need one. I joked with some friends a few years ago that this would make a good app/website for runners and cyclists. One idea was you could tag the location to indicate whether or not it had paper and/or soap for washing hands.
epaladin 13y ago
I've always found Starbucks to be reliable solution. Usually clean and nearly ubiquitous.
- vqc 13y ago
  I think from Starbucks's perspective (and any other store's perspective), they hate having to expend resources on people who don't actually buy anything from them. There were rumors several years ago that Starbucks wanted to close off bathrooms to the public because they were becoming the de facto public bathroom in NY.
  - TeMPOraL 13y ago
    This would be a very short-sighted thinking. ROI of making your toilets public feels like it would be much bigger than of any money spent on advertising. Here you have potential customers actually present in your store. Also, for example I remember exactly where every McDonald's and KFC in my town's centre is only because I sometimes need them as an emergency toilet and/or free Wi-Fi provider. Guess what places come to my mind first when I'm hungry and in the area?
    - Hrundi 13y ago
      A starbucks in Madrid has a scanner that validates your purchase ticket in order to access the bathroom. Lucky for me, the door was half open already.
ridave 13y ago
As someone with a family member suffering from moderate Crohn's disease and frequently needs to utilize public restrooms this has obvious appeal. While I cringe at the thought of them paying every time a bathroom is needed out in public, the safety net would be great. It also would allow people who are very sick with Crohn's to venture out of their comfort area. One thing to consider, in the US many states have instituted "Ally's Law" where businesses are legally required to allow people who need immediate restroom access, assuming it doesn't put the business or person in harm's way.
roozbeh18 13y ago
disruptive
kevinmchugh 13y ago
This is not a cool idea, and I would be interested in seeing what a $10/use restroom looks like. Pay toilets are illegal here in Chicago, (allegedly because a mayor once ran out of change at the airport), so I'm sure there'd have to be a fight to implement here.
- vqc 13y ago
  There are definitely laws that deal with this issue. In California for instance, "restaurants" of a certain footage must make their bathrooms available to customers. Most likely free of charge. http://www.ada-pros.com/know-before-you-go-restroom-requirements-for-restaurants-in-california/ http://www.ada-pros.com/know-before-you-go-restroom-requirem... Chicago definitely has a bathroom problem though. See, e.g. http://articles.chicagotribune.com/2013-08-21/opinion/ct-perspec-0821-bathroom-20130821_1_restrooms-bathroom-tourists http://articles.chicagotribune.com/2013-08-21/opinion/ct-per...
vqc 13y ago
It's really exciting to see all this feedback on this idea. I've been holding off on sharing http://www.clnli.com http://www.clnli.com until it was more mature. But now seems as good a time as any. We're going with a totally different business model. It's really good to see another player on the block.
- calbear81 13y ago
  Wow, I was talking about something like this to coworkers a few months back at lunch and thought of the name Hallpass. The challenge we came up with was how to convince store owners there was enough of a revenue stream here to be worth their trouble. Are they paid a flat fee or on a per usage basis?
  - vqc 13y ago
    The best approach seems to be a hybrid approach. Flat fee + per use on top. With something like this, you don't want stores to feel like they're getting the short end of the stick if they are suddenly facing a torrent of bathroom users.
mgrouchy 13y ago
Hah, clever idea. My strategy, which works well in fairly urban areas in decently sized cities(so imperfect I know), is to just use the bathroom in Hotel Lobbies. Always clean and always available and usually no problem accessing them.
deleted 13y ago
[deleted]
rdl 13y ago
"PNP in the public toilet" means something different in SF...
mobweb 13y ago
Where I live (Zurich, Switzerland) it's not uncommon for shops/restaurants to open up their toilets to non-guests during busy events downtown, for a small charge. Most people don't mind paying a few bucks to use a clean toilet instead of the mobile ones provided by the city for free, which usually start smelling really bad only after a couple of hours. I doubt I would use an app just for that though...
- sschueller 13y ago
  Z�rich also has 99 public toilets which are cleaned twice a day. Some are also staffed. https://www.stadt-zuerich.ch/zueriwc.secure.html https://www.stadt-zuerich.ch/zueriwc.secure.html
wehadfun 13y ago
So Can you charge extra for number 2?
jaldoretta 13y ago
This is definitely an interesting idea, but if it catches on, I can't imagine Airbnb wouldn't get a little upset about the name-steal.
JulianMorrison 13y ago
This is good news for trans and gender-ambiguous people if you could make sure it marks (and can be searched for) the availability of gender neutral facilities where they won't get hassle.
- vqc 13y ago
  There's also http://www.safe2pee.org http://www.safe2pee.org (now potentially defunct) and http://www.refugerestrooms.org/ http://www.refugerestrooms.org/
  - JulianMorrison 13y ago
    There is yeah, but a self funding system is likely to get bigger and be less vulnerable to being shut down.
spinlock 13y ago
Why are "journalists" saying that uber is part of the "sharing economy"?
- wasd 13y ago
  UberX would fall under that categorization.
brianbreslin 13y ago
Many moons ago in France I remember there being these public restrooms in parks that cost like $.25 to use, but then washed themselves before you got in/after. Could that be the next phone booth style trend? I would happily pay $.50-1 to know its a clean bathroom that is disinfected. On a busy new york street with tons of foot traffic at $.50 the machine could easily generate $5-10k/day gross.
- foundart 13y ago
  We have them in San Francisco. Apparently, they are not so great. http://www.sfgate.com/bayarea/nevius/article/It-s-time-to-raise-a-stink-over-public-toilets-2393868.php http://www.sfgate.com/bayarea/nevius/article/It-s-time-to-ra...
- patmcc 13y ago
  >>>On a busy new york street with tons of foot traffic at $.50 the machine could easily generate $5-10k/day gros I think you're an order of magnitude too high on that estimate. If a bathroom was used for 45 seconds, cleaned for 15, and then immediately back in use every minute of the day (which is probably a crazy estimate), it would generate $30 an hour, or $720 a day.
  - brianbreslin 13y ago
    eh, you're probably right. I was thinking a street like 5th ave which has hundred thousand people walking up it every day.
sp332 13y ago
I've been using a Bathroom Finder app on my in-car tablet. It only maps public restrooms but it's very helpful and has reviews. It seems like there would be a lot more public restrooms than private ones available for "rent".
shabinesh 13y ago
As a frequent traveler by road in India, at transit towns I rent hotel rooms just to use a clean restroom and to get a decent shower. With such a service I believe this is solving a practical problem and cost effective in my case.
steveplace 13y ago
Great timing with Mardi Gras-- the company made local news, and if you look at the world map, there's about a dozen openings in New Orleans (but a surprising few in the French Quarter). I'm convincing the inlaws to to a PPP model in their gallery today.
zhte415 13y ago
Knowing the floor an exact exit from the lift-block of an Executive Lounge can also be quite useful. The bathroom of an Executive Lounge is often a self contained toilet / shower unit together with power-shower, towels and soaps. Depending on the arrangement (and visibility) of the lounge's front desk and lift block, and occupancy of the lounge (passing traffic needing to need to facilitate the facilities), a quick shower is quickly accomplished.
quomopete 13y ago
This is why I am just utterly confused about what people are willing to do to "solve a problem" or "jump on a trend". From a planning perspective, do users have to set this up with some time in advance. If I were to rent out my toilet, I wouldn't really want to be sitting around like a bathroom attendant waiting for strangers to enlist my accommodations. If this were during a big event in my area, I'd rather a) be at the event, b) be as far away from the event as possible. Not stuck inside managing my commode. If I were on the other end of the transaction, I wouldn't know when nature would be calling. Making it hard to figure out in advance where I need to "rent" a toilet. After that, how truly rewarding is a couple bucks a pop to allow strangers into your house to relieve themselves? The barrier to entry is not that high and the risk/inconvenience is not trivial. Does it really pad your income that much? To me it just wouldn't be worth the hassle and it's not like they're going to clean up if they make a mess. Maybe I am just an "old fogey" but some ideas just aren't that good.
- theseoafs 13y ago
  > If I were on the other end of the transaction, I wouldn't know when nature would be calling. Making it hard to figure out in advance where I need to "rent" a toilet. I think the idea is that the app allows you to find a toilet immediately in your immediate area -- not that you reserve, for example, a toilet for 5 minutes at 10:30 PM on Sunday three weeks in advance.
meritt 13y ago
I think Penny Arcade covered the problem with this 9 years ago: http://art.penny-arcade.com/photos/215520847_FFz8n-L-2.jpg http://art.penny-arcade.com/photos/215520847_FFz8n-L-2.jpg
jfmercer 13y ago
Finally, the startup I've been waiting for.
alexkus 13y ago
IPFreely?
guidedlight 13y ago
My closest toilet is in Japan (I'm in Australia) I would have thought that being a two sided market, any available public information would have been already entered, rather than relying on others to submit toilets. For example, entering all 33,000 McDonalds locations would have been a great start. I'm pretty sure that is a true global source of toilet location data.
techaddict009 13y ago
Had submitted this as Shown HN 5 days ago but it didnt get any traction ! https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=7311022 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=7311022

125 points by naren87 13y ago

tzury 13y ago

Curb Your Enthusiasm -- iToilet by Gorge Costansa. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ITluapajP4w http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ITluapajP4w

unwind 13y ago

The name, while humorous, seems rather likely to provoke Airbnb. The risk of confusing the two is simply too great. Other than that, I wonder how this works for private customers; seems the number of ... transactions per unit of time can be a lot higher than for somewhere to sleep.

chimeracoder 13y ago
There's another way that "AirPNP" could be misinterpreted, to humorous effect: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Party_and_play https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Party_and_play (It's especially amusing when you take into account the stories (whether exaggerated/apocryphal or not) of people using AirBNB as a means to identify places to hold such "parties").

platelets 13y ago

Is it almost too gimmicky to be taking seriously? I guess a business could host their toilet on the site for free to divert passing traffic into their store?

evan_ 13y ago
Nathan For You had this idea last year: http://m.comedycentral.com/videos/video.rbml?id=p707vf http://m.comedycentral.com/videos/video.rbml?id=p707vf

raldi 13y ago

It’s tragic that this is a clear-cut trademark violation, because the name is otherwise perfect.

michaelfeathers 13y ago

March 4th, 2014 - The Sharing Economy jumps the shark.

acconrad 13y ago

We're a month early on Google April fools product launches

cowls 13y ago

I seriously hope this is a joke

jasonlfunk 13y ago
Why? It's a great solution to a very common problem.

frankdenbow 13y ago

Well Sit or Squat worked so this may also: http://www.cultofmac.com/9799/charmin-sponsors-sit-or-squat-toilet-finder-app/ http://www.cultofmac.com/9799/charmin-sponsors-sit-or-squat-...

krmmalik 13y ago

All jokes aside, I know I would definitely use this service. I have bathroom issues all the time. Just recently I was in central london on a busy saturday night and finding a toilet was seriously hard work. Macdonalds had long queues for toilets, so did many other retail outlets and many tube stations dont have toilets. I know residential areas are a little further out from the city, but i'm sure people could get creative and make it work. I'd even check the toilet "spots" before I went to a crowded area so I know i could pop in when needed. On the flip-side, acting as a host however, I dont think I could do it. With the state of toilets in most service stations, I couldn't give up my toilet to someone to come in and pee all over the seat or forget to flush or something. The irony is that, that's going to be the real sticking point.

kbenson 13y ago
Presumably, when making consistent money from a toilet, more resources can be allocated to keeping it clean and presentable. Possibly cleaned every few minutes. That would ba a horrible job.
- nobodysfool 13y ago
  I'd just lock the front door when they come in to use the restroom, inspect the toilet after they are done, and unlock it only after it's clean. Simple as that.
  - djur 13y ago
    That would, in all likelihood, be illegal. In a lot of jurisdictions it'd be kidnapping.
    - dragonwriter 13y ago
      I think the more likely charge, technically, is false imprisonment.
  - waterfowl 13y ago
    Who cares about legality, what a creepy awkward thing to do.

turnip1979 13y ago

Charging to use the restroom urgently gets close to violating the rules of civil society in my books. Yes, I know city governments do it in many big cities. Yes, I know it is the norm in many parts of Europe. But still ... I've had a few businesses (even chains) in NYC insist that I purchase something before using their restroom. As someone who has a comfortable living, I don't hesitate. At the same time, I make a mental note to not give that store my business if I can help it. The whole kindness to strangers thing .. yeah .. that's mostly dead. I understand the problems caused by homeless individuals when using restrooms or camping out in stores. I even get that the rest room maintenance costs money. In Europe, when you have to pay those old ladies to use the restroom to pee ... that's their income. But still ... when you turn away someone when they urgently need to go ... that's just wrong.

mrweasel 13y ago
Charging for restrooms is also a bit stupid in some cases. I've run into quite a few restrooms here in Denmark where you need to pay by inserting a coin, typically only 2DKK. That's all well an good, the money goes to keep the restrooms clean and you avoid a lot of misuse. The stupid part is that a rather large number of people don't carry cash anymore. The local bus and train terminals are 2DKK to use the restrooms, but you do really use cash to pay for your travels anymore, so the assumption that you would have a 2DKK coin is a bit flawed. Why can't I use the same card I use to check-in to bus/train to check-in to the restrooms?
- Evgeny 13y ago
  It's even worse than that if you consider that bus or train stations tend to be the places where a lot of tourists transit. If I spend just a few hours in a country it does not make much sense to obtain local cash, especially coins which will be unusable as soon as I leave the country. On the other hand, the chances that I will need a restroom at least once in a few hours are quite high ...
- kalleboo 13y ago
  Here across the Sound in Malmö they installed toilet doors that you unlock via premium SMS. Of course, all too late they realized that locks out any tourists without a local phone number...

bowlofpetunias 13y ago

Living in the center of Amsterdam, I could make a fortune with this on Queensday.

maxgaudin 13y ago
Hi there. I'm a cofounder at Airpnp. If you're really interested I'd like to talk to you about getting your bathroom going for Queen's Day. Email me at max@airpnp.co
- SimHacker 13y ago
  You might also want to talk with this guy at the Folsom Street Fair in San Francisco: http://happyurinal.tumblr.com/post/11493020151/puppet-urinal-by-luckysob http://happyurinal.tumblr.com/post/11493020151/puppet-urinal... That approach might work pretty well on Queen's Day in Amsterdam, too. (Well it's going to be known as King's Day from now on, now that the queen has abdicated.)

akumen 13y ago

Who said nobody is innovating! Now this is what I call disruptive!

kyro 13y ago

I've joked around with this idea before, except I called it Püber. In all seriousness, this is an issue I deal with frequently in NYC. I'm out and about in Manhattan all day, get struck by the need to pee, and then run around trying to find any place with a restroom. Paying a buck or two would be a negligible cost if it meant immediate relief. If they expanded and got enough supply, I'd definitely use their service.

vrikis 13y ago
I went to visit NYC in 2012 and was so surprised by the lack of clean toilets around... I would've paid $5 for a good, CLEAN toilet. Usually I just go to Starbucks (works well in Europe), but I found them pretty horrible in NYC.. I'd use a service like this.
- garethsprice 13y ago
  McDonalds appears to have a policy of allowing non-customers to use their bathrooms too. Starbucks or McDonalds are my go-to toilets in NYC.
  - vrikis 13y ago
    Very true. If anyone ever comes to the UK, I find McDonalds to be amongst the cleanest toilets!
- aestra 13y ago
  I go to New York City all the time (but I don't live there) and I've never had an issue with finding a clean bathroom, ever. Boston is a different story though I've only been there a handful of times. Walk into Starbucks or McDonalds, always worked for me. Never had a cleanness problem. I usually only pee when I am in an establishment as a customer though.
memset 13y ago
somewhat-related: I recently learned that there are public restrooms in Penn Station! So if you're out and about in midtown, there's an option.

sharkweek 13y ago

Even Seinfeld thought this was a great idea: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ITluapajP4w http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ITluapajP4w

angry_albatross 13y ago
Wait a minute... I'm pretty sure that Seinfeld and the iPhone did not overlap in time...
enscr 13y ago
Which year was this shot in? (talks about iPhone) Edit : Found it http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Seinfeld_(Curb_Your_Enthusiasm) http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Seinfeld_(Curb_Your_Enthusiasm)
- sharkweek 13y ago
  It's from a recent season of Curb Your Enthusiasm, where the whole season is about a Seinfeld reunion episode - "to make up for the terrible original finale"
kissickas 13y ago
FWIW, that was from Curb Your Enthusiasm. Seinfeld was over long before Madoff and iPhones.
cglace 13y ago
There is a great Seinfeld episode where Jerry, George, and Kramer all pretend to be interested in a home for sale so that they can use the bathroom.
JadeNB 13y ago
Although this clip isn't from Seinfeld, the topic certainly did arise there. In addition to the episode cglace (https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=7341503 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=7341503) mentions, which I don't remember, there was an episode where George showed Jerry that, given any address, he could name the nearest public bathroom.

vpontis 13y ago

Are you able to list your neighbor's lawn?

noarchy 13y ago

I'll assuming that this isn't a joke story. I'm imagining, with some amusement, the inevitable first clash with a city over such a service. You just know someone will complain that this clashes with obscure or arcane zoning laws.

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- spinlock 13y ago
  I really don't see this being used in rural areas with septic systems. It seems like this problem only really exists in cities where everyone is on the sewer line. That being said, people get pissed when neighbors airbnb their apartments because of strangers in the building. Multiply that by 20 with randoms using the can and I think you could have some really pissed off neighbors.
  - rayiner 13y ago
    Especially because, let's face it, a lot of those people will be drunk.
  - normloman 13y ago
    Rural areas often host large music festivals and state fairs, which tend to have crummy porta-johns. The rural town where I grew up was packed every summer with campers, antique collectors, and bike riders, and I'm sure some of them would pay to use a nice toilet for a change. And septic systems aren't limited to just rural areas. Many suburbs and towns have them too.
zhte415 13y ago
Interestingly (or at least I find it so) any Public House (i.e. Pub) in the UK is required by license and law to let any member of the public use their bathroom, and also to provide fresh water, for no fee. The toilets do not have to be located in the main building, but be within the property of the main building. This applies to neither private clubs nor private businesses (i.e. shops).

keithg 13y ago

As a runner, I'm always looking out for portables and taking mental notes because you never know when you're going to need one. I joked with some friends a few years ago that this would make a good app/website for runners and cyclists. One idea was you could tag the location to indicate whether or not it had paper and/or soap for washing hands.

epaladin 13y ago

I've always found Starbucks to be reliable solution. Usually clean and nearly ubiquitous.

vqc 13y ago
I think from Starbucks's perspective (and any other store's perspective), they hate having to expend resources on people who don't actually buy anything from them. There were rumors several years ago that Starbucks wanted to close off bathrooms to the public because they were becoming the de facto public bathroom in NY.
- TeMPOraL 13y ago
  This would be a very short-sighted thinking. ROI of making your toilets public feels like it would be much bigger than of any money spent on advertising. Here you have potential customers actually present in your store. Also, for example I remember exactly where every McDonald's and KFC in my town's centre is only because I sometimes need them as an emergency toilet and/or free Wi-Fi provider. Guess what places come to my mind first when I'm hungry and in the area?
  - Hrundi 13y ago
    A starbucks in Madrid has a scanner that validates your purchase ticket in order to access the bathroom. Lucky for me, the door was half open already.

ridave 13y ago

As someone with a family member suffering from moderate Crohn's disease and frequently needs to utilize public restrooms this has obvious appeal. While I cringe at the thought of them paying every time a bathroom is needed out in public, the safety net would be great. It also would allow people who are very sick with Crohn's to venture out of their comfort area. One thing to consider, in the US many states have instituted "Ally's Law" where businesses are legally required to allow people who need immediate restroom access, assuming it doesn't put the business or person in harm's way.

roozbeh18 13y ago

disruptive

kevinmchugh 13y ago

This is not a cool idea, and I would be interested in seeing what a $10/use restroom looks like. Pay toilets are illegal here in Chicago, (allegedly because a mayor once ran out of change at the airport), so I'm sure there'd have to be a fight to implement here.

vqc 13y ago
There are definitely laws that deal with this issue. In California for instance, "restaurants" of a certain footage must make their bathrooms available to customers. Most likely free of charge. http://www.ada-pros.com/know-before-you-go-restroom-requirements-for-restaurants-in-california/ http://www.ada-pros.com/know-before-you-go-restroom-requirem... Chicago definitely has a bathroom problem though. See, e.g. http://articles.chicagotribune.com/2013-08-21/opinion/ct-perspec-0821-bathroom-20130821_1_restrooms-bathroom-tourists http://articles.chicagotribune.com/2013-08-21/opinion/ct-per...

vqc 13y ago

It's really exciting to see all this feedback on this idea. I've been holding off on sharing http://www.clnli.com http://www.clnli.com until it was more mature. But now seems as good a time as any. We're going with a totally different business model. It's really good to see another player on the block.

calbear81 13y ago
Wow, I was talking about something like this to coworkers a few months back at lunch and thought of the name Hallpass. The challenge we came up with was how to convince store owners there was enough of a revenue stream here to be worth their trouble. Are they paid a flat fee or on a per usage basis?
- vqc 13y ago
  The best approach seems to be a hybrid approach. Flat fee + per use on top. With something like this, you don't want stores to feel like they're getting the short end of the stick if they are suddenly facing a torrent of bathroom users.

mgrouchy 13y ago

Hah, clever idea. My strategy, which works well in fairly urban areas in decently sized cities(so imperfect I know), is to just use the bathroom in Hotel Lobbies. Always clean and always available and usually no problem accessing them.

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rdl 13y ago

"PNP in the public toilet" means something different in SF...

mobweb 13y ago

Where I live (Zurich, Switzerland) it's not uncommon for shops/restaurants to open up their toilets to non-guests during busy events downtown, for a small charge. Most people don't mind paying a few bucks to use a clean toilet instead of the mobile ones provided by the city for free, which usually start smelling really bad only after a couple of hours. I doubt I would use an app just for that though...

sschueller 13y ago
Z�rich also has 99 public toilets which are cleaned twice a day. Some are also staffed. https://www.stadt-zuerich.ch/zueriwc.secure.html https://www.stadt-zuerich.ch/zueriwc.secure.html

wehadfun 13y ago

So Can you charge extra for number 2?

jaldoretta 13y ago

This is definitely an interesting idea, but if it catches on, I can't imagine Airbnb wouldn't get a little upset about the name-steal.

JulianMorrison 13y ago

This is good news for trans and gender-ambiguous people if you could make sure it marks (and can be searched for) the availability of gender neutral facilities where they won't get hassle.

vqc 13y ago
There's also http://www.safe2pee.org http://www.safe2pee.org (now potentially defunct) and http://www.refugerestrooms.org/ http://www.refugerestrooms.org/
- JulianMorrison 13y ago
  There is yeah, but a self funding system is likely to get bigger and be less vulnerable to being shut down.

spinlock 13y ago

Why are "journalists" saying that uber is part of the "sharing economy"?

wasd 13y ago
UberX would fall under that categorization.

brianbreslin 13y ago

Many moons ago in France I remember there being these public restrooms in parks that cost like $.25 to use, but then washed themselves before you got in/after. Could that be the next phone booth style trend? I would happily pay $.50-1 to know its a clean bathroom that is disinfected. On a busy new york street with tons of foot traffic at $.50 the machine could easily generate $5-10k/day gross.

foundart 13y ago
We have them in San Francisco. Apparently, they are not so great. http://www.sfgate.com/bayarea/nevius/article/It-s-time-to-raise-a-stink-over-public-toilets-2393868.php http://www.sfgate.com/bayarea/nevius/article/It-s-time-to-ra...
patmcc 13y ago
>>>On a busy new york street with tons of foot traffic at $.50 the machine could easily generate $5-10k/day gros I think you're an order of magnitude too high on that estimate. If a bathroom was used for 45 seconds, cleaned for 15, and then immediately back in use every minute of the day (which is probably a crazy estimate), it would generate $30 an hour, or $720 a day.
- brianbreslin 13y ago
  eh, you're probably right. I was thinking a street like 5th ave which has hundred thousand people walking up it every day.

sp332 13y ago

I've been using a Bathroom Finder app on my in-car tablet. It only maps public restrooms but it's very helpful and has reviews. It seems like there would be a lot more public restrooms than private ones available for "rent".

shabinesh 13y ago

As a frequent traveler by road in India, at transit towns I rent hotel rooms just to use a clean restroom and to get a decent shower. With such a service I believe this is solving a practical problem and cost effective in my case.

steveplace 13y ago

Great timing with Mardi Gras-- the company made local news, and if you look at the world map, there's about a dozen openings in New Orleans (but a surprising few in the French Quarter). I'm convincing the inlaws to to a PPP model in their gallery today.

zhte415 13y ago

Knowing the floor an exact exit from the lift-block of an Executive Lounge can also be quite useful. The bathroom of an Executive Lounge is often a self contained toilet / shower unit together with power-shower, towels and soaps. Depending on the arrangement (and visibility) of the lounge's front desk and lift block, and occupancy of the lounge (passing traffic needing to need to facilitate the facilities), a quick shower is quickly accomplished.

quomopete 13y ago

This is why I am just utterly confused about what people are willing to do to "solve a problem" or "jump on a trend". From a planning perspective, do users have to set this up with some time in advance. If I were to rent out my toilet, I wouldn't really want to be sitting around like a bathroom attendant waiting for strangers to enlist my accommodations. If this were during a big event in my area, I'd rather a) be at the event, b) be as far away from the event as possible. Not stuck inside managing my commode. If I were on the other end of the transaction, I wouldn't know when nature would be calling. Making it hard to figure out in advance where I need to "rent" a toilet. After that, how truly rewarding is a couple bucks a pop to allow strangers into your house to relieve themselves? The barrier to entry is not that high and the risk/inconvenience is not trivial. Does it really pad your income that much? To me it just wouldn't be worth the hassle and it's not like they're going to clean up if they make a mess. Maybe I am just an "old fogey" but some ideas just aren't that good.

theseoafs 13y ago
> If I were on the other end of the transaction, I wouldn't know when nature would be calling. Making it hard to figure out in advance where I need to "rent" a toilet. I think the idea is that the app allows you to find a toilet immediately in your immediate area -- not that you reserve, for example, a toilet for 5 minutes at 10:30 PM on Sunday three weeks in advance.

meritt 13y ago

I think Penny Arcade covered the problem with this 9 years ago: http://art.penny-arcade.com/photos/215520847_FFz8n-L-2.jpg http://art.penny-arcade.com/photos/215520847_FFz8n-L-2.jpg

jfmercer 13y ago

Finally, the startup I've been waiting for.

alexkus 13y ago

IPFreely?

guidedlight 13y ago

My closest toilet is in Japan (I'm in Australia) I would have thought that being a two sided market, any available public information would have been already entered, rather than relying on others to submit toilets. For example, entering all 33,000 McDonalds locations would have been a great start. I'm pretty sure that is a true global source of toilet location data.

techaddict009 13y ago

Had submitted this as Shown HN 5 days ago but it didnt get any traction ! https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=7311022 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=7311022