The Toronto Sun newspaper recently wrote about that city’s first automated public toilet (http://www.torontosun.com/news/torontoandgta/2011/01/02/16734681.html),
calling the futuristic steel stand-alone restroom a “top tourist photo destination.’’ Users pay 25 cents to use the bathroom, which is climate controlled and plays soft music during the experience. After each use, the toilet seat is cleaned with a heat mist and the entire unit is washed down automatically after three uses. Water used in the cleaning drains through a porous floor.
This is the first of four of the fancy bathrooms, each carrying a price tag of $400,000. According to the newspaper, the units are part of a $1 billion contract in which Montreal company Astral Media Outdoor will provide 25,000 public transit shelters, benches, bike racks, waste baskets and the bathrooms in exchange for 20 years of advertising rights in public places.
Similar restrooms have popped up in European cities in recent years. The question is, will this technology move to downtowns across the U.S. and Canada, and if so, will it have an impact on portable sanitation providers in urban settings? Or another question: Will portable sanitation providers pick up on this type of restroom-for-advertising deal with cash-strapped government customers?
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