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While we won't get into Chicago's homeless situation, we have to believe the city's vagrants are 97% responsible for the tantalizing aroma of urine that permeates our street corners and mass transit system (the other 3% is made up of drunk bar patrons). While we try to look away, we can't help but be smacked in the face by that indefinable musky pungency that carries in the cool morning air.
Since apparently everyone is doing it already, the city is looking into making official the privilege that our vagabonds have been enjoying for years. Restrooms in CTA stations. While they do exist in most stops for disabled customers, they are not open to the general public except for at the Brown Line, Merchandise Mart stop and the Purple Line, Evanston stop.
As some travel times on CTA trains alone reach the 2 hour mark, restrooms become a necessity for the more frequent goers (pharmaceutical companies will suggest you have a "going" problem). However, until now you would have to get off and leave the station, or take matters into your own hands in a dimly lit corner.
Other cities have attempted public toilets in train stations, but high costs and extra maintenance are a problem. MARTA (Atlanta) and BART (San Francisco) offer toilets at most of their stations, but Metrorail in D.C. attempted a pilot program which it abandoned because of too many problems. Most public toilets in other cities cost around $0.20 and have a 20 minute timer to cut down on drugs, prostitution, and using them as a $0.20 hotel room (at the end of the 20 minutes, the door unlocks, uh oh).
New CTA president, Ron Huberman, said that the restroom policy will be reviewed once possible state funding has been approved.
Image via Wikipedia, which taught us that public toilets in Finland use blue lighting to make it harder for drug users to find a vein. Trippy.
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which Evanston stop?
Nevermind. According to the Chicago Tribune link, public restrooms are only available at the Merchandise Mart stop (which is a stop on both the Brown and Purple Lines)
Why not implement those pay-to-pee stalls they have in London and NYC? It wouldn't be the prettiest thing, but maybe practical and would make some scratch for the CTA.
No, No, No, No... bad idea, bad idea.
Building these things plus maintenance costs would already add to CTA cash woes. And after a couple of months of use, I seriously doubt I would dare to step into one of these stalls. It would be like a gas station restroom in Macon, GA. In July. I promise you.
Stick to fixing the tracks and keeping the train cars themselves clean and I'll be a happy camper.
I'm with Thunderbird on this one. More bathrooms is a recipe for disaster, and a smelly one at that. It's like the first toilet in London, Scotland, or whatever it was in Trainspotting. You won't get out without taking a dip and contracting TB.
I agree with the "no bathroom" rule. 95% of the ridership would be cool with it, but the other 5% would make CTA bathrooms a disaster.
There would always be a few jackasses who would use them for drugs, prostitution, or peeing on the floors. As for the timer you can still engage in plenty of illicit activities in 20 minutes. The CTA should focus their resources on cleaning trains/buses and strictly enforcing littering laws.
Just the idea of this makes me barf.
There are far too many disrespectful and careless people out there besides homeless vagrants that would heavily contribute to such restroom facilities being filthy.
No one has respect for anything anymore. It's all "me me me, destroy destroy destroy." You can sing that as a tune if you want!
I think it's a great idea. What a great way to hook up with guys on the way home from work.
I think of the unspeakable things entitled dipshits did to the shared bathrooms in the dorms at UIC and shudder. Eventually, the cleaning staff said fuggit and stopped cleaning because there's just no point. I give CTA restrooms about 1 hour before that becomes the case for them, too.
I can already see piles and piles of dead bodies in the dark corners of CTA restrooms! Gross!
I think they should do it...
Charge $1 or something like they do in Italy. This would both keep the undesirables out (homeless people, many of whom have no problem riding the 'L'in their own excrement, so why should they treat a public washroom any better?) and pay for the cost of upkeep...
Many Chicagoans love to hock loogies and toss gum on sidewalks, as well as on train and bus floors. Though these assholes are in the minority they would be enough to completely destroy CTA bathrooms. Since cameras would not be in the bathrooms vandals would have free reign.
I wouldn't use them, but I say go for it. Keep the price low, and hopefully they'll quit using stations and trains as bathrooms.
Would you rather have a nasty restroom you don't have to use covered in filth, or the entire station?
Mikey,
That defeats the purpose. The goal should be as much to provide those icky undesireables a better place to crap and pee as it is to provide us nice people a place to do the same.
And what's the over/under before one of these restrooms is used for a murder, rape, or kidnapping?
Vegas is placing the line at 3 1/2 months.
I think the intent of building these things is to give the average CTA user a place to relieve him or herself, but after the homeless, careless, and (as Curmedgeon pointed out) just plain destructive get through with it, these things will get little to no use other than for sketchy gay hook-ups and such.
A total waste of time, money, and effort just so the CTA can attempt to show customers they mean well.
Curmudgeon -
You make a good point. I guess I was thinking more in terms of the average rider, specifically of an experience I had when I was on the morning commute to work after a hard night of drinking, and was forced to exit at Fullerton, barely making it to the Dominick's bathroom in time before what would have been a most embarrassing incident...
Only allow people with registered Chicago cards to access these restrooms. You pay by swiping your card, just like the bus or train. And yeah, it should cost a solid $1. For 10 minutes, not 20. So long as the auto clean features referred to in the article are operational, it could work. Maybe a camera could snap a digital photo of the bathroom when the door is first reopened after payment. That way there is proof if someone went in there to mess the place up. You have the user's information thanks to the Chicago card and you have photo evidence. It shouldn't be that expensive to implement this kind of system.
Really though, I think it would be more work than it's worth. Unless someone can argue that running these things would actually be profitable, we'd all be better off if the CTA could focus on making service more efficient and better maintaining it's rolling stock.
Only allow people with registered Chicago cards to access these restrooms. You pay by swiping your card, just like the bus or train. And yeah, it should cost a solid $1. For 10 minutes, not 20. So long as the auto clean features referred to in the article are operational, it could work. Maybe a camera could snap a digital photo of the bathroom when the door is first reopened after payment. That way there is proof if someone went in there to mess the place up. You have the user's information thanks to the Chicago card and you have photo evidence. It shouldn't be that expensive to implement this kind of system.
Really though, I think it would be more work than it's worth. Unless someone can argue that running these things would actually be profitable, we'd all be better off if the CTA could focus on making service more efficient and better maintaining it's rolling stock.
Anyone experience the Western stop on a normal basis? Geese.... nearly knocks you over as you exit the station. Truly sick.
You get nearly knocked over by geese whenever you exit the Western station?