MTA reopens bathrooms in 9 NYC subway stations for first time since pandemic began
The MTA on Monday reopened 18 bathrooms at nine subway stations after all the system’s restrooms closed during the pandemic due to what officials claimed was a shortage of cleaners.
It’s a fraction of the 133 bathrooms the MTA reports are tucked in subway stations across the city — but marks the first time since March 2020 that riders have a place to relieve themselves without exiting the turnstiles.
Transit officials said they’ve recently hired more cleaners and “took advantage” of the nearly three-year toilet hiatus to make upgrades like automatic faucets, tile grouting and new signs with the hours of operation.
But good luck locating a toilet in the subway stations. There are no way-finding signs in the stations to direct riders towards the loo.
Still, Shlomo Gavriyah, 60, a veteran subway rider, knew where to go at the Jay Street-MetroTech station when he had to go.
“Us old guys don’t want to urinate on the tracks, so it’s good,” he said Monday about the newly reopened toilets.
But Gavriyah worried the conditions in the bathrooms will deteriorate quickly.
“Don’t just open them, monitor them,” said Gavriyah. “Because it’s still a lot of homeless people out and they’ll use the bathrooms and lock themselves in, so people who really need to use them won’t be able to use them.
Coming out of the women’s room at Jay Street-MetroTech, Haby Sylla, 42, found the toilets “very, very clean,” but didn’t think all the toilets at subway stations should reopen.
“I think it’s best to open the ones that have a lot of people around,” Sylla said. “For safety.”
The MTA has also reduced the hours the bathrooms are open. Before the pandemic, the restrooms would close between 12 a.m. and 5 a.m. Now, they’re only open from 7 a.m to 7 p.m., with a one-hour cleaning break between 12 p.m and 1 p.m.
Rosie Cola, a foreperson at lower Manhattan’s Fulton Street station who is in charge of keeping its bathrooms open, closed the subway toilet right at noon for cleaning.
“I’m very happy that the restrooms are open for the commuters,” said Cola. “They’re being responsible and we’re now cleaning so that it’s germ free. But we don’t know what’s going to happen, it’s a trial today, see how it goes.”
The subways have 133 bathrooms across 69 stations, according to MTA officials. That’s fewer than transit officials reported in 1989, when records obtained by Gothamist show NYC Transit officials listed 210 public toilets at 106 stations.
MTA representatives declined to say when — or if — the remaining bathrooms will open.
MTA Chairman Janno Lieber last year flushed cold water on any hopes for more openings.
“We can’t be the bathroom for all of New York,” Lieber said in a September interview.
Bathrooms are open at the following stations:
- 161 St–Yankee Stadium
- 14 St–Union Sq.
- East 180 St.
- 42 St–Bryant Park
- Jay St–MetroTech
- Kings Highway
- Jackson Hts–Roosevelt Ave.
- Forest Hills–71 Ave.
- Fulton St.
Map: Where Are The Usable Subway Bathrooms?
By
Christopher Robbins
Published Feb 25, 2014
Modified Feb 26, 2014
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By
Christopher Robbins
Published Feb 25, 2014
Modified Feb 26, 2014
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New York’s subways are renowned for their freedom—freedom to eat, sleep, and furiously lick shoes. But our subterranean limousine lacks reliable facilities. Where can one evacuate with dignity? You can’t pull a “2 Train Trapeze” without some scold noticing, and exiting means saving your kidneys at the expense of your bank account. Human washroom dowsing rod Eron Watt has pinpointed all 129 restrooms in the subway system, but only 48 are open for use.
What gives?
Some subway restrooms have been converted to newsstands (Astor Place), others have been changed to storage rooms or workstations for MTA employees. Watt’s initial 2012 offering, NYC Subway Public Restrooms: 45 Places, is the Citizen Kane of shakily shot subway restroom tutorials. Of the 43-minute film, Leonard Maltin said, “There is no way I’d take a crap in most of those places but I’d probably pee in them, yeah, sure, just please stop calling me.”
Earlier this month, Watt debuted NYC Subway Public Restrooms: 3 More Places, which revealed new usable restrooms at the Forest Hills E/F/M/R station, the Court Street R / 2/3/4/5 Borough Hall stop, and the 62nd Street D / New Utrecht Ave N stop. “Simply dazzling,” raved A.O. Scott, “Now leave my hotel room or I’m calling the police.
”
According to Untapped Cities, many subway restrooms are locked. But MTA spokesman Adam Lisberg (actually) told us that except for when they are under construction, the only times bathrooms are locked is from 1 a.m. to 6 a.m. for cleaning purposes or to prevent the potential for crime. An official bathroom count wasn’t immediately available, but since some of Watt’s knowledge is a few years old, the porcelain landscape may have changed.
For more essential bathroom knowledge, here’s a “Secret List” of public bathrooms from Reddit.
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Christopher Robbins
Christopher Robbins is a New York City reporter covering transportation, affordable housing, local politics, and criminal justice. His work has also appeared in New York Magazine, The Village Voice and The New York Times.
Chris is a graduate of Patrick Henry High School in Roanoke, Virginia, and enjoys biking to Fort Tilden in the summertime.
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Toilets at railway stations will become free from 2020 – October 8, 2019
Society . However, we are talking only about those stations where the territory is under the jurisdiction of the Directorate of railway stations.
There are 344 such stations in Russia. On October 8, with reference to the head of the organization, Georgy Gevorkyan, the Gudok newspaper writes.
At the moment, as part of a program to improve comfort at Russian stations, toilets have already become free at 80 of them.
It was decided to make the entrance free of charge due to complaints from citizens who complained about the cost of using the toilet. After that, a financial audit showed that the service does not generate income at 87 stations.
Now passengers with train tickets and beneficiaries can use the toilet free of charge at the station.
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At the new station in Nur-Sultan, toilets were paid on some floors
At the new station in Nur-Sultan, toilets were made paid on some floors
Four paid toilets are located on the fourth and fifth floors, there are free bathrooms in the arrivals hall and on the first floor in the waiting rooms :16+0600
2022-09-26T15:53+0600
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Astana news
Sputnik Kazakhstan
+74956456601
MIA “Rosiya Segodnya”
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putnik Kazakhstan
+74956456601
MIA “Rosiya Segodnya”
News
ru_KK
Sputnik Kazakhstan
+74956456601
MIA “Rosiya Segodnya”
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Sputnik Kazakhstan
+74956456601
MIA “Rosiya Segodnya”
Sputnik Kazakhstan
metropolitan life, railway station “ktzhol”, news0005
metropolitan life, railway station “nurly zhol”, ktz, news of astana
NUR-SULTAN, July 17 – Sputnik. Pay toilets appeared in the building of the capital’s Nurly Zhol railway station. Entrance – 50 tenge.
Coin operated turnstiles installed on the fourth and fifth floors.
The video of the innovation appeared on Facebook, the opinion of users about the need for a paid bathroom was divided.
As before, visitors can also use free toilets, the press service of Kazakhstan Temir Zholy specified.
Toilet for 23 million: KazAvtoZhol explained the high cost in the waiting rooms,” KTZ reported.
In total, there are 12 toilets in the Nurly Zhol station building, while the area near the station is very large, and transitions between floors can take a long time.