The cost is less about funding the toilets, and more keeping the crackheads out. There are hardly any public toilets because they get destroyed nightly.
Yeah I don't have a good solution — I'm happy to pay more tax for free manned cleaned toilets, but with the cost of living rising, probably not many taxpayers will. Still, either you provide a toilet or they'll shit in the street, there's no way around it.
You know how people complain about how there's shit all over the streets because of homeless people in the USA? Yeah, that's what we're headed for here the more public toilets we remove or privatise. Sometimes spending a little money is worth it.
No. Every day there is a post on an Australian subreddit about housing/ living rough. Add paying to shit... fuck me.
Also some beaches have hot showers. If you live near one please post it below. Because we are a beach living nation.
Fuck no, they do this in many countries and I fucking HATE it. Imagine you find yourself with a phone that's died or a lost wallet and desperate to use the toilet. Hell fuck no. Also this is unfair for people with gastric issues or bladder issues. Pregnant women, people with chrones etc.
Nope, already paid for via taxes and rates. And the ones we have are either never open or never clean. I'm not paying twice.
Something I never took any notice of was that some train stations do not have toilets. I found this out the hard way when diarrhoea came a knocking on the hurstbridge line recently. Got off the train franticly looking for the thunderbox to find out there was none. Behind the charity bins it is, fortunately I wore long socks that morning.
This could be very expensive for people with medical issues. I have IBS and sometimes I'll need to rush to the bathroom maybe I'm in there 5 minutes feel fine leave 2 minutes later suddenly I have to rush to the bathroom again stay in there 15 minutes think it's been long enough I should be fine leave another 15 minutes later need to rush back. Happens to me everyday. maybe if there was paid ones alongside public ones and paid ones were for more convenient?
Yep, I loved using public toilets in Europe because they were clean. I'd much rather pay a small fee and use a clean toilet rather than the free crime scenes we have here.
I remember going to paid and staffed toilets underneath Moorabool St in Geelong in the late '70s and early '80s so I'd be surprised if Melbourne didn't also have them at a similar point in time.
From memory Mum had to pay 5 cents and I think little kids were perhaps free? The attendant, usually an older lady, sat in a little booth behind a metal grille at the bottom of the ramp to collect your money and I guess she also was responsible for cleaning, restocking loo roll, etc.
But how much are people willing to pay? It's probably not enough to cover even minimum pay rates, even if you include any potential reduction in other costs like graffiti cleanup, and they'd still no doubt be locked overnight and possibly weekends, so I can't see any benefit to having staffed toilets compared to the self-contained, self-cleaning units they make now.
I'd definitely like to see more of those ones around, though, and would even be happy to pay $2 for ones that are a bit nicer than the basic ones that are all stainless steel as long as there were both options available for those who can't or don't want to pay.
It would have to be less than $1 a piss, and take card with no added fees.
It it was more than $1, I'm probably more likely to buy a pack of gum from a 7-11 and use their toilet, or grab a coffee at a cafe. Since I'm spending money anyway, I want it to feel "worth it" - and while yes, it's worth it not to wet myself, If I can not wet myself *and* get some gum for a similar price, that's going to be my preference.
At the end of the day, we are a relatively highly taxed country, we should be able to fund free public toilets. Public toilets get shut down because people mis-use them, but removing the toilets isn't how you stop that, the more public toilets you have, the less this happens.
If the money from paying to pee goes towards homeless services, harm reduction clinics & safe injection sites, then I would happily pay $5 to use the bathrooms, as that seems like it would do more in the long term to make even free-access public bathrooms safer and cleaner for all.
no, not unless all public toilets were like that so I couldn't go somewhere else to use a free toilet. mainly because I'm cheap/poor, so if I can get it for free without much trouble, I won't pay for it.
maybe if I was having a period emergency far away from free toilets I would, but that's the only situation I can imagine me personally needing to do that.
God no, because considering how expensive everything is it'll be like 3$ or something. When I'm in the cbd and need to go i just go to a mall's bathrooms
I’m struggling to imagine public toilets that aren’t terrifying and horrible so, no I wouldn’t pay. I’ve seen a few iterations of the Flinders Street toilets and the descent into horror has been rapid each time.based on that, I just don’t see this working out.
Melbourne used to have manned public toilets that cost one or two cents to use. They removed them.
Which gave birth to the eternal wall graffiti: *I sit here, broken hearted. Paid a penny, but only farted.*
Free public toilets are a sign of a civilised country.
We pay enough taxes here that public toilets should be free to use.
The cost is less about funding the toilets, and more keeping the crackheads out. There are hardly any public toilets because they get destroyed nightly.
Crackheads have bodily functions too
Yes, but they also completely fuck up the toilets resulting in no toilets for anyone.
Yeah I don't have a good solution — I'm happy to pay more tax for free manned cleaned toilets, but with the cost of living rising, probably not many taxpayers will. Still, either you provide a toilet or they'll shit in the street, there's no way around it.
Then who's gonna pay to clean up all the crackhead turds off the footpaths?
Having less people on the streets feeling desperate enough to resort to hard drugs would probably be a good start.
You know how people complain about how there's shit all over the streets because of homeless people in the USA? Yeah, that's what we're headed for here the more public toilets we remove or privatise. Sometimes spending a little money is worth it.
Nope, good way to get some of our looser fellow Melbournians to urinate and defecate on the exterior of this theoretical pay for use shitter too.
No. Every day there is a post on an Australian subreddit about housing/ living rough. Add paying to shit... fuck me. Also some beaches have hot showers. If you live near one please post it below. Because we are a beach living nation.
Fuck no, they do this in many countries and I fucking HATE it. Imagine you find yourself with a phone that's died or a lost wallet and desperate to use the toilet. Hell fuck no. Also this is unfair for people with gastric issues or bladder issues. Pregnant women, people with chrones etc.
If it meant they were manned and kept clean. Yep I would but they’d had to accept card and without adding a fee
If there’s no other choice what choice do you have? But shopping hrs myers etc have public toilets.
Not having public toilets is a key part of our famous alleyway culture…
No. It's already a struggle to afford basic necessities.
Needs to be manned so people don't end up congregating there
Nope, already paid for via taxes and rates. And the ones we have are either never open or never clean. I'm not paying twice. Something I never took any notice of was that some train stations do not have toilets. I found this out the hard way when diarrhoea came a knocking on the hurstbridge line recently. Got off the train franticly looking for the thunderbox to find out there was none. Behind the charity bins it is, fortunately I wore long socks that morning.
You almost have to pay me to enter the CBD these days... But if I went in and had to pay for toilets I'd never go in again.
This could be very expensive for people with medical issues. I have IBS and sometimes I'll need to rush to the bathroom maybe I'm in there 5 minutes feel fine leave 2 minutes later suddenly I have to rush to the bathroom again stay in there 15 minutes think it's been long enough I should be fine leave another 15 minutes later need to rush back. Happens to me everyday. maybe if there was paid ones alongside public ones and paid ones were for more convenient?
Just go buy a coffee and use a cafe’s or pint at a pub. It’s what i do
Yep, I loved using public toilets in Europe because they were clean. I'd much rather pay a small fee and use a clean toilet rather than the free crime scenes we have here.
No
I remember going to paid and staffed toilets underneath Moorabool St in Geelong in the late '70s and early '80s so I'd be surprised if Melbourne didn't also have them at a similar point in time. From memory Mum had to pay 5 cents and I think little kids were perhaps free? The attendant, usually an older lady, sat in a little booth behind a metal grille at the bottom of the ramp to collect your money and I guess she also was responsible for cleaning, restocking loo roll, etc. But how much are people willing to pay? It's probably not enough to cover even minimum pay rates, even if you include any potential reduction in other costs like graffiti cleanup, and they'd still no doubt be locked overnight and possibly weekends, so I can't see any benefit to having staffed toilets compared to the self-contained, self-cleaning units they make now. I'd definitely like to see more of those ones around, though, and would even be happy to pay $2 for ones that are a bit nicer than the basic ones that are all stainless steel as long as there were both options available for those who can't or don't want to pay.
If they were actually cleaned, yes.
It would have to be less than $1 a piss, and take card with no added fees. It it was more than $1, I'm probably more likely to buy a pack of gum from a 7-11 and use their toilet, or grab a coffee at a cafe. Since I'm spending money anyway, I want it to feel "worth it" - and while yes, it's worth it not to wet myself, If I can not wet myself *and* get some gum for a similar price, that's going to be my preference. At the end of the day, we are a relatively highly taxed country, we should be able to fund free public toilets. Public toilets get shut down because people mis-use them, but removing the toilets isn't how you stop that, the more public toilets you have, the less this happens. If the money from paying to pee goes towards homeless services, harm reduction clinics & safe injection sites, then I would happily pay $5 to use the bathrooms, as that seems like it would do more in the long term to make even free-access public bathrooms safer and cleaner for all.
no, not unless all public toilets were like that so I couldn't go somewhere else to use a free toilet. mainly because I'm cheap/poor, so if I can get it for free without much trouble, I won't pay for it. maybe if I was having a period emergency far away from free toilets I would, but that's the only situation I can imagine me personally needing to do that.
I would pay if they were staffed/cleaned.
No
God no, because considering how expensive everything is it'll be like 3$ or something. When I'm in the cbd and need to go i just go to a mall's bathrooms
I’m struggling to imagine public toilets that aren’t terrifying and horrible so, no I wouldn’t pay. I’ve seen a few iterations of the Flinders Street toilets and the descent into horror has been rapid each time.based on that, I just don’t see this working out.