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Comment by tekla | Hacker News Reader

The problem is that some people do not want pay toilets. They want free public toilets and would call Europe backward/racist/whatever for making people pay for toilets.

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I won't assume what people would call "Europe" which is a big place. However, it's certainly true that pay toilets are not a thing in the US in general and certainly not in train stations, restaurants, etc. as you at least sometimes see in other countries.

It's probably complicated at this point in that I assume most people in the US don't carry change today and tap to pay small amounts is fairly nascent.

Even if you want to pay, it is hard to find toilets that are clean and do not have a big line. It is a horrible situation, especially when visiting with young children.

If a person were begging outside of a toilet I'm sure someone would help them out until it becomes a regular hustle like people outside of grocery stores is.

I would not mind a reasonably priced pay toilet. The toilet should make enough revenue to pay for itself ideally.

Because it is backwards, state governments ought to supply and maintain enough bathrooms that the streets remain sanitary.

Sanitation is one of the main things we need a government for; failure here is unacceptable.

The only people who pee on the streets are drunks and they're not going to a public toilet anyway.

Why not?

Because they don't care, can't be bothered to wait for one, and any ones with personnel are probably not going to admit them because they will make a big mess.

As a drunk, we for sure care.

Some people don’t want to pay for anything. Those people can be ignored most of the time.

Would they rather have toilets that cost a dollar to use or no toilets?

Someone who needs to pee is going to pee, whether they have a dollar to spare or not; I'd rather they are able to pee in a restroom rather than on the grass, sidewalk, or someone's doorway. It is cheaper and healthier for society as a whole if people do their business in restrooms, which is basically the reason why we've converged on a society where toilets exist in the first place, rather than fleets of trucks circling around and washing the streets constantly.

Yet Europe, with pay-to-use toilets, does not have urine-soaked streets or the need for an app to map poop…

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