Harlem, Washington Heights Getting New Public Toilets

Harlem and Washington Heights will be receiving two of the 17 new public modular bathrooms being rolled out citywide as part of a $4 million pilot program that was kicked off in January. One will be located at Malcolm X Plaza, while the other will be placed off Audubon Avenue at Plaza Alianza Dominicana.

The only other toilets in Manhattan under the pilot program unveiled by City Hall will go Downtown Manhattan, which will also get two of the new public toilets under the pilot program. City Hall hopes to double the number of public toilets citywide within ten years.

New York City has a widely-recognized dearth of public restrooms relative to other major cities, with 1,066 currently located citywide; only 943 of these are available year-round, placing the city at 93rd place—out of the nation’s 100 largest cities—on the public bathroom front.

Officials plan to eventually install 2,100 more of these restrooms across the five boroughs, although the initiative has had some delays getting off the ground.

“Too many New Yorkers know what it’s like to have nowhere to go while they’re on the go.” Mayor Zohran Mamdani said in a statement. “This pilot is about making sure New Yorkers can count on a clean, safe, accessible bathroom when they need one.”

“Public restrooms improve the quality of life for everyone, especially our older adults, parents with young children, delivery workers, people with disabilities and so many more,” DOT Commissioner Mike Flynn added in a statement of his own.

The bathrooms will be open from 10 a.m. to 7 p.m., and will be fully “touchless,” meaning that their amenities will respond to movement sensors (thereby avoiding the problem of touching any well-used surfaces).

The restrooms will also be cleaned after roughly every 15 or so visits. Each one will include a sink, a baby-changing station, and what the city is describing as a “comfortable” interior. They’re also certified as ADA-compliant.

However, the restrooms also come with a hard 10-minute time limit, which will reportedly involve two automated intercom warnings piped to users beforehand.

Then, the doors will automatically open to the elements after one final 30-second warning, leaving whoever has failed to get off the toilet potentially exposed with their pants down.

In other words, if New Yorkers think that they might need to use the toilet for more than nine minutes, they might consider going elsewhere. Mamdani himself has explained that the time limit comes from estimates that the average public restroom break takes three-and-a-half minutes.

This fact has unsurprisingly elicited dismay from some disability advocates, as well as observers of the city’s bathroom scene more broadly.

The publication VICE dubbed the time limit as “merciless, unforgiving clock,” while one X.com poster quipped that the bathrooms were a “new IBS nightmare scenario invented”—a reference to irritable bowel syndrome, a medical condition that leads to more complicated toilet breaks.

“They can open the doors on me all they want but unless that seat is spring loaded I am finishing my business,” the user “grandabbotmeteo” added.

Throne Labs, the contractor responsible for designing and servicing the toilets, will apparently be tasked with sending a representative to negotiate with those that still fail to heed the “get out” signal. If needed, law enforcement or other such city agencies will respond.

“My gut has always caused me issues, and I try not to leave my house without knowing exactly where the nearest restroom is going to be. That constant worry follows me everywhere.” Throne Room Co-Founder Fletcher Wilson said in a statement. “We started Throne to solve exactly this problem, and we’re proud to bring Throne’s restroom solution to all five boroughs of New York City.”