Find the nearest toilet – online?
Ah, the joys of living in the Internet Age: online banking, stupid videos of pets on YouTube, a million ways to waste time at work, and now, a way to find a bathroom in a pinch, online. There are two services to come out in recent weeks that aim to provide users the ability to find a clean, reliable toilet where and when they need it. For many people, especially travelers, this is a godsend. Some cities can be notoriously difficult to find a bathroom in, especially if you are looking for something that is clean and free.
McDonald’s is an old stand-by, if you can find one. It’s one of the best places to use a toilet without having to buy something first. Public libraries and other public buildings are good places to start, but you never know what you are going to get. In New York, where I live, it can be tricky to find something if you are in an unfamiliar part of town. I’ve had a hard time in Sydney, London, Tokyo, and just about any major city in the world. The award for best maintained, well marked and free public toilets goes to Darwin, Australia, for the record. They even talk tell you everything you need to know about how to use the facility, in case you have problems.
The two services that recently debuted are called SatLav and MizPee.
SatLav only works in London at the moment, but will surely expand elsewhere. The technology uses the ability to triangulate a cell phone user’s location using the cellular towers and their phone. All you have to do is text “toilet” to the number, and you will get a reply telling you where the nearest public toilet is. It sounds pretty fancy, but currently its application is fairly limited.
The other service, which covers parts of North America, is called MizPee. While not as technologically advanced (you tell it your address), it serves more locations. It also has a whole website dedicated to the service, and even promises such things as “toilet trivia” and user ratings of the public toilets. A quick search for my Brooklyn address turned up 4 public toilets. One was a McDonald’s and one a YMCA, both located over a mile and a half away. In fact all four toilets were located over a mile and a half away. Ironically there is a McDonald’s and a YMCA just a block and a half away, and neither of these showed up.
Entering in my Manhattan work address, I get 7 toilets, one of which is just a third of a mile away. The limitation so far is that users must enter in toilets, unlike the SatLav service. But the closest toilet to my library, located in a Starbucks, has been given a rating of one toilet roll, so I’m not planning on using it anytime soon. I guess I’ll have to stick to the one around the corner from my office.
Both of these services offer promise, especially when traveling. After some more users add restroom locations MizPee could become a convenient tool, especially since you access it from your cell phone. For now though, I’ll still probably manage however I’ve been managing all these years, without the use of technology to find me a bathroom.
Do you have any tips for finding bathrooms while traveling? Share in the comments!
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