Pay toilet

A pay toilet is a public toilet that requires money payment of any individual to use. It may be street furniture or be inside a building, e.g. a mall, department store, railway station, restaurant, etc. The reason for charging money for using toilets usually is for the maintenance of the equipment.

Modern times

Pay toilets are not uncommon in Europe. Paris, in particular, makes heavy use of them; the streets of the city are forested with self-cleaning, coin-op booths (landmarks like Sacre-Coeur generally have several). Riders on the Metro may encounter coin-op toilets in the underground stations; and even non-mechanized toilets occasionally have attendants who expect tips. Some service stations offer a coupon equal in value to the amount paid for use of a toilet, redeemable for other goods at that station or others in the same chain.

In the United States, pay toilets were prevalent until the mid-1970s. A campaign by the Committee to End Pay Toilets In America (CEPTIA) resulted in laws enacting pay toilets in cities and states. In 1973, Chicago became the first American city to enact a ban, at a time when, according to the Wall Street Journal, there were at least 50,000 units in America [ "Clinched fist rising from commodes ends," "Journal-News" (Hamilton, OH) August 19, 1976, p.B-6 ] , mostly made by the Nik-O-Lok Company [ Id. ] . CEPTIA was successful over the next few years in obtaining bans in New York, New Jersey, Minnesota, California, Florida and Ohio [ Id. ] . Lobbying was successful in other states as well, and by decade's end, pay toilets were almost unknown in America. By then, those remaining toilet owners who had pay toilets found they were losing more money than they made, due to stolen or vandalized pay boxes, as well as lost business.

In the past, some businesses used the payment system to limit access to toilets, and this is still accomplished by use of a key system for patrons only and outright denial of access to the wider public. In most areas, this is illegal for public (stadiums, for example) and government buildings.

In the United Kingdom it is technically permitted to charge for use of toilets, but not for the use of urinals.

Pay toilets on the streets may provide urinals free of charge to prevent public urination.

In Mexico, the majority of pay toilets have turnstiles and an attendant at the entrance. Either it has a coin-operated one or you give the attendant the coins. It is a regular facility otherwise. The attendant gives out a small rationed amount of toilet paper and sometimes a paper towel.

History

The earliest public toilets were set up in Knossos of the Minoan civilization in the Crete island, now part of GreeceFact|date=February 2007. However, the earliest pay toilets were erected in Ancient Rome in 74 AD during the rule of Vespasian, after a civil war in Rome affected Roman finance. The Emperor's initiative was derided by his adversaries; his son Titus even criticised him, to which Vespasian replied by holding up a coin from the first collection to his son's nose and asking him whether its smell offended him. Titus responded negatively, to which Vespasian replied "e lotio est" ("And yet it comes from urine").

In some cities during the Middle Ages, there were sellers of public toilets who were equipped with a large cloak and a bucket. For a fee, one could use the bucket while hidden by the cloak.

ee also

* Outhouse
* Portable toilet
* Sanisette
* Toilet
* Urinal
* Water closet

References

* [http://www.abc.net.au/science/k2/moments/s105028.htm Bathroom Blues]
* Suetonius - The Lives of the Twelve Caesars, VIII, Vespasian XXIII