Tuesday, January 29, 2008

Pay Toilets Welcome Wheelers

New York City opened its first of 20 wheelchair-accessible, self-cleaning, public pay toilets in Madison Square Park in December. The usage fee is 25 cents for 15 minutes, after which the automatic door swings open and a 60-second self-cleaning cycle begins.

Since the 1800s NYC has had public pay toilet problems. The city outlawed public toilets in 1975 because they discriminated against women — there were no stalls. Subsequently, the city won a class action suit in 1993 that originated because of complaints by a homeless group about the lack of public toilets. Cemusa, the Spanish advertising company that won the bid to install the new toilets, will also add hundreds of news stands and bus shelters. All surfaces of the outdoor furniture, even the toilets, will be sold for advertising.

Source: NewMobility.com

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