January 11, 2006
Metrorail Station Bathroom Policy Revisited
During those desperate times on late weekend nights (see: peeternity), have you ever wondered where are the restrooms in metrorail stations? Or why they don't have any? Turns out they do, though they are hidden in the depths of the stations next to the mechanical nitty-gritties, and it seems station managers are rather selective as to who uses them. Selective, about bathroom usage? The Washington Examiner looks at the issue in today's paper.
According to the current metrorail station policy, which was passed in 2003, usage is limited to children, the elderly and the physically disabled. Both activists and citizens associations are concerned that potty rights are being denied without justification, and convinced that such a policy breaks commercial building code. Is a metrorail station considered a commerical building? Folks are still trying to figure that one out.
Rest(room) assured, Metro Board Chairman Dana Kauffman has asked Metro's chief of staff, Harold Bartlett to come up with some recommendations on easing the restroom access requirements without putting the safety of the stations and trains at risk. Let's see what he's able to come up with by early Februrary.
They say you learn at least one new thing ever day: there are hidden restrooms in metrorail stations that only some folks can use, there is policy regarding the restrooms...and who knew there is an American Restroom Association? We here at DCist are all about equality in regards to metrorail bathroom access as well as metrorail station safety; for those of you who gain access to the restroom area, do us a favor and don't tinker with the mechanical room wires.
Picture taken by brownpau.
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This subject just pisses me off!
Sometimes if you just walk up and ask the station manager they'll unlock the door for you.
I've done it.
Um. This is probably a good thing. I can tell you from using systems that DO have bathrooms -- well frankly, you probably don't want them. Unless you had an attendant in them, they aren't going to be clean. Period. Even if they are cleaned several times a day. The BART System in the Bay Area has them. Or did. After 9/11 all the ones in subterranean stations were closed. And have remained so, some of the suburban stations have them, but they are dirty. What DC needs are those pay toilets that wash themselves after each use. I know they have those in SF, but I'm pretty sure they have them in European cities too. It's only a $.25 and the other upkeep costs are paid by selling ads on the outside. As long as the Heroin addicts don't take them over (probably not a huge problem in DC), they are really handy. Especially for tourists.
those self-wash bathrooms are awesome. i've seen them a bunch in italy - they were just like 10 centesimi. and they feel uber-futuristic.
They had those self-wash bathrooms in Seattle. When I was there for a few days in '04, they were free, and pretty awesome.
Wasn't WMATA experimenting with that at the Huntington station? I seem to recall reading that in the Post a while back, but never having been to that station, I'm not sure. Maybe someone knows?
DC did have a pilot project with one of those self-cleaning toilets at two Metro stations in Virginia. But they didn't get much use, and the company that made them didn't make them compliant with the Citizens with Disabilities Act. Then 9/11 happened, and suddenly, clean automated toilets became a target for terrorists and the pilot project ended.
And I don't think people can live in them, because after a set time, the whole interior shoots steaming sanitizing chemicals. But I'm sure it'll end up like the toilets in MLK Library, glory holes and all.
Perhaps they can add "drunk and really, REALLY needs to pee/throw up" to the list of special groups with free access to the restrooms. Hey, alcohol turns some folk into children...
Oh people don't live in them in SF. But the Heroin users tend to leave needles in them and/or jam the coin slots to get free access or prevent people from entering them. The ones in the bad neighborhoods were always a problem. I'm not necessarily saying that WMATA needs to do these, but DC should. Or the Golden Triangle Association. It sucks to have to always look for a Starbucks to go the john.
ajs: I feel like your sequence of events may be off, because I'm SURE I read about the Huntington station pilot project long after 9/11, considering I wasn't living in this area at that point. And what I'm picturing, which is what I saw in Seattle, is a single-toilet bathroom. So I'm not sure how glory holes would work out, though it certainly would set the stage for the formation of the Mile Below Club (yeah I know metro isn't a mile underground, but it wouldn't have worked otherwise).
Although I've certainly felt the pain of peeternity, I'm still skeptical... Nothing says vandalized, filthy, sketchy, disgusting, dank hole better than the words "public subway restroom". If there have to be open restrooms in the metro, I gotta agree with the self-cleaning, pay-toilet idea. Still, working escalators and longer train cars are definitely higher on my priority list than self-cleaning toilets.
The Huntington station had one at least as recently as last winter, and may still have it. I used it once; it was nowhere close to clean: there was soggy toilet paper all over the inside. Not a pleasant experience.
I'd wager that the Self-Cleaning toilet experiment at Huntington "failed" because it's one of the least-used stations at the end of one of the least used lines in the system.
That... and because the terrorists hate us for our self-cleaning public toilets.™
The old policy was that if you said the magic word, 'emergency', you'd get in. It's possible that this is still done, at least informally.
5 bux to teh station agent get me in everytime.
Could the admins/mods please check the list of comments pending approval, please? (Personally I think it's kind of insane that including more than one HTML link qualifies a comment for spam review -- but it's even worse when said comment languishes in purgatory for more than 5 hours. Maybe a Turing test would eliminate the need.)
apologies for the delay in getting the uber-hyperlinked comment up.
Anybody who thinks Huntington is one of the least used stations has obviously never been there. It gets heavy usage: it's one of only two park-and-ride stations in the area south of Alexandria (the other being Franconia/Springfield).
Some not terribly recent statistics (May 2000) from NARPAC confim this. The ten least used stations?
* Minnesota Ave.
* Eisenhower Ave. (this may be increasing due to new office buildings and retail there)
* Cheverly
* Mt. Vernon Sq.
* Arlington Cemetary
* Deanwood
* Navy Yard
* Forest Glen
* Capitol Heights
* Virginia Square
I got to use a metro bathroom once, and I agree with DC1974. It wasn't pretty, but it was worth it at the time.