Is 24-hour public toilets really too few? Four Questions on "Convenient" Services for Environmental Sanitation | Hours | Public Toilets

Recently, the topic of "too few 24-hour public toilets in Shanghai" has sparked heated discussions online.

How many public toilets in Shanghai are open late at night and early in the morning? Can all public toilets be open 24 hours a day? How to balance the contradiction between demand and cost after extending the opening of public toilets? What else can be done to further optimize public toilet services?

The Jiefang Daily Shangguan News reporter visited the competent authorities, public toilets, and surrounding areas, and also chatted with toilet administrators, users, residents, and passersby around the public toilets.

How many 24-hour public toilets are there?

The reporter learned from the Shanghai Greening City Appearance Management Department that there are currently nearly 3000 sanitation public toilets and about 10000 social public toilets in Shanghai. As of the end of last year, most of the sanitation public toilets were open for 14-17 hours a day.

In recent years, Shanghai has vigorously promoted the development of the night economy, and the quality of public services supporting the night economy needs to be further improved. In addition, the toilet needs of some people who are still busy with their lives in the late night and early morning need to be met in a timely manner. Therefore, in some urban areas with busy night life, there is a growing call to increase the number of public toilets or extend their opening hours.

The Shanghai Municipal Regulations on the Administration of Urban Appearance, Environment and Health, which came into effect on December 1, 2022, stipulate that public toilets should be open to the public free of charge, and public toilets constructed by government investment that meet the conditions should be open 24 hours a day.

The "Guiding Opinions on Further Strengthening the Management of Public Toilets in the City" issued by the Shanghai Greening and Urban Appearance Bureau in December 2022 also proposed that the five types of public toilets should be prioritized for 24-hour opening: large commercial districts, commercial streets, public toilets around the starting and ending stations of overnight trains, public toilets that play the role of home toilets in residential communities, and public toilets with particularly strong demand from citizens.

This year, various districts in Shanghai have actively promoted the extension and opening of public toilets for environmental sanitation.

The latest statistics show that there are 130 public toilets in the city that have been opened for an additional few hours on top of 14-17 hours a day, and 796 public toilets have been opened 24 hours a day. As of now, 31% of the total number of sanitation public toilets in Shanghai have been further extended or opened 24 hours a day.

Song Gang, Deputy Director of the Public Toilet Management Department of the Shanghai Municipal Environmental Quality Monitoring Center, stated that this year, Shanghai will promote the further extension or 24-hour opening of no less than 1000 environmental sanitation public toilets.

Is it necessary to extend the opening up?

31% of sanitation public toilets have optimized their service hours, which is not a low proportion. However, in the eyes of some people, it seems that it is not difficult to open all public toilets 24 hours a day for an additional 7-10 hours.

It seems that public service resources such as parks, shopping malls, rail transit, and buses should also be open 24 hours a day. The fact is, none of them can do it, and public toilets are also difficult to do because public resources are not infinite.

However, just because it is difficult to achieve does not mean it cannot be done. It is difficult to fully open up, and some parts can still be implemented according to local conditions.

Any public toilet that needs to be extended or even opened 24 hours a day must first consider one thing: whether it is necessary.

"If there is only one person who needs to use the toilet outside the regular opening hours, will they be allowed to use it? If there are 10 people with similar needs, do they have to use it? This is indeed a difficult problem." A staff member from the Environmental Sanitation Department of the Putuo District Greening and Urban Appearance Bureau told reporters that sitting in the office will never get an answer to such a question, and one must go to the public restroom and surrounding areas to ask the people about their needs.

From March 3rd to 30th this year, Putuo District divided 85 public toilets into two batches and conducted a 24-hour open pressure test for two weeks.

The administrators of 85 sanitation public toilets record the number of people who come to use the toilet during unconventional opening hours from 22:00 to 5:00 the next day, and strive to chat with everyone, asking them the reasons for coming to use the toilet at this time and the necessity of 24-hour opening of this public toilet.

Based on the pedestrian flow obtained from testing and the opinions of the majority of citizens based on on-site investigations, 16 out of 85 public toilets have been adjusted to open all day.

It is reported that the number of toilet users in these public toilets during the daily stress test period is no less than 10, but the number is only a reference item. "It is up to the people to decide whether to extend it or not." By the end of this year, Putuo District plans to increase the number of public toilets open 24 hours to 32 according to the new round of stress test.

The reporter learned that Putuo's experience of "stress testing" has been replicated and promoted in other areas of Shanghai, providing objective and scientific basis for extending the opening of public toilets.

How much does the operation and maintenance cost increase?

Who will bear the increased operation and maintenance costs is also a major obstacle to extending the opening of public toilets.

In June of this year, the upgraded and renovated Tianping Road Public Toilet on Zhaojiabang Road was opened to the public. All toilet spaces were significantly adjusted, and an independent "universal toilet room" was squeezed out on the side near the road.

At 22:00 every day, after cleaning the entire public toilet, administrator Zhang Peimei will pull up and lock the partition between the "General Toilet Room" and other areas of the public toilet, and close the main entrance door of the public toilet. Only one door facing the street from the "General Toilet Room" will be opened, making it convenient for unattended late night and early morning periods for people to come and use the toilet.

She said that before the renovation of the public restroom, there were always one or two people who would come to use the restroom after work every day. Most of them were employees of nearby shopping malls, and there were also many people who consumed or ran at night nearby.

Zhang Yan from the Facilities Construction Management Department of Xuhui District City Appearance and Environmental Hygiene Management Center told reporters that before the renovation of the public toilet, a questionnaire survey was distributed in Xujiahui Park and bus stops, and it was found that about 20% of the respondents hoped that the public toilet could be open 24 hours a day. Therefore, the initial draft of the plan was specially revised.

The 24-hour opening requires consideration of operation and maintenance costs. The purpose of building a "universal toilet room" is to provide 24-hour services while minimizing costs.

After the public restroom administrator finishes work, they will turn off the water and electricity in other areas and only keep the water and electricity in the "general restroom". A light wall facing the street in the restroom will be turned on to guide passersby who are in a hurry to use the restroom. Nevertheless, the renovation cost of the entire public toilet is still very high, at least 900000 yuan.

Song Gang introduced that there are currently two main methods to further extend the opening or 24-hour opening of sanitation public toilets.

When constructing or renovating, relatively independent "general toilets" or third bathrooms should be set up to further extend or open 24 hours a day. During non routine service hours, other areas of the public restroom should be closed.

Environmental sanitation public toilets that have been built but lack relatively independent "universal toilets" or third bathrooms, temporary mobile public toilets can be set up next to the environmental sanitation public toilets if conditions permit, and the environmental sanitation public toilets can be closed normally in the late night and early morning hours; If there are no conditions, all can be opened and a dedicated person will be arranged to be on duty.

The person in charge of an environmental sanitation company admitted that the company once opened an old public toilet with a high flow of people for water testing 24 hours a day. Due to the lack of conditions for partial opening, only all of them could be opened. Therefore, two administrators were specially equipped for this purpose, without calculating the cost of water, electricity, cleaning and pest control consumables during the extended opening period. The labor cost alone would increase by more than 200000 yuan per year.

The person bluntly stated that government funded public toilets that meet the conditions will be open 24 hours a day and require certain financial support.

"We are applying for an additional budget, but the first plan has been withdrawn, and the auditing department believes that labor costs can be reduced." A person from the greening and urban appearance department in a central urban area complained to reporters. According to the requirements of refined management, the number of cleaning personnel for environmental sanitation public toilets cannot be reduced just because the late night and early morning opening hours are added. The service quality and hygiene level of public toilets should be the same as that of normal opening hours and extended hours. In case of accidents or unexpected situations in public toilets, someone can take care of them in a timely manner. However, the budget approval department feels that the next morning, when the cleaning staff go to work, they can remove the dirt and garbage generated during unconventional opening hours. ".

Several industry insiders have politely declined the suggestion from some netizens to add coin/scan code payment style intelligent mobile toilets. They believe that sanitation public toilets should be provided for free in cities. "We hope to solve the cost problem of opening public toilets during unconventional periods through market mechanisms. We appreciate this kindness, but doing so will make public services' tasteless'. The extension and opening of sanitation public toilets is already being promoted, give us some time, and we will definitely do better in the future."

How to find nearby public toilets?

In the interview, many relevant personnel from management departments and units expressed their grievances: more than a quarter of the city's sanitation public toilets have been opened 24 hours a day. Before opening, sufficient research was also conducted. Why do so many people still feel that the openness is not enough?

The reporter found during the visit that the publicity and guidance work for sanitation public toilets that have been further extended or opened 24 hours a day has not been done enough, resulting in most of the sanitation public toilets that have already optimized their services appearing "unknown". In fact, several sanitation public toilets that were previously complained by netizens about not extending their opening have 24-hour public toilets responsible for providing a "bottom line" for their respective areas.

For example, walking about 800 meters from the public toilet at 340 Wusheng Road, there is a 24-hour mobile public toilet, and it is closer to the exit of the People's Square subway station. For example, the public toilet at the intersection of Weihai Road and Maoming North Road has been extended to be open from 5 to 24 o'clock, and there is also a 24-hour public toilet at 840 Yan'an Middle Road within a walking distance of less than 600 meters nearby. There is a 24-hour public restroom located less than 300 meters away from the intersection of Changning Road and Loushanguan Road.

"The main reason for not being able to find it is because we are not aware. We are researching ways to increase awareness of the extended opening of public toilets for environmental sanitation by adding signs, posting guidance, and other methods," said Cao Qian, the head of the Environmental Sanitation Management Department of the Greening City Appearance Bureau in Jing'an District.

In order to facilitate pedestrians in finding nearby "convenient" places, the Shanghai Greening and Urban Appearance Department has also launched a series of smart and convenient measures this year. Citizens and tourists can use the "Shanghai Smart Toilet Search" WeChat mini program to search for nearby sanitation public toilets. The program is free to use and can provide detailed information including the name, address, area, opening time, and whether there is a third bathroom. It also provides navigation services to help citizens and tourists easily reach designated sanitation public toilets.

The Shanghai Greening and Urban Appearance Department has also communicated and coordinated with the two major map platforms, Baidu and Gaode, achieving the exchange and sharing of public toilet information, improving the accuracy of environmental sanitation public toilet information in existing maps, and adding a large number of social public toilets that can be opened to the public in shopping malls, hotels, and rail transit stations, making it convenient for citizens and tourists to use information technology to quickly locate nearby public toilets.

"We will continue to improve the 'Shanghai Smart Toilet Search', such as distinguishing open and closed public toilets through different colored signs, and adding a pre query function to allow everyone to understand the environmental sanitation situation of the destination area in advance, rather than only being able to view real-time location information of public toilets in the area." Song Gang said.