Automated Public Toilets

The City Council on Wednesday voted to seek bids for the development of a citywide automated toilet program, a day after it delayed consideration of an ordinance against public urination and defecation. City lawmakers will consider a plan to pay for the self-cleaning toilets by incorporating advertising kiosks on the outside of the facilities.

Just across the street from the historic produce stalls of Pike Place Market sits a gunmetal gray cylindrical pod with shiny silver doors, a structure that would look right at home on the bridge of the starship Enterprise. It is the public restroom of the future. But its heyday here may soon be in the past. After three years in operation, Seattle is considering pulling the plug on these space-age restrooms, which cost the city $6.6 million.

A Metropolitan Transportation Authority committee decided Wednesday that the agency should install public toilets at rail stations but not charge for the privilege of using them. The MTA's Operations Committee voted unanimously against charging, saying it would not be worth the effort to collect a quarter per visit. By disposing of the idea, the committee avoided any chance of running afoul of a state law banning pay toilets in public buildings.

The green, oval, vaguely Art Deco pod arrived in Pershing Square six months ago -- billed as the answer to one of downtown's most human of needs. It's a luxury automated toilet, the kind seen on the streets of world-class cities such as Paris and New York and a prototype for as many as 150 that officials plan to roll out across Los Angeles in the next few years.

Just across the street from the historic produce stalls of Pike Place Market sits a gunmetal gray cylindrical pod with shiny silver doors, a structure that would look right at home on the bridge of the starship Enterprise. It is the public restroom of the future. But its heyday here may soon be in the past. After three years in operation, Seattle is considering pulling the plug on these space-age restrooms, which cost the city $6.6 million.

The green, oval, vaguely Art Deco pod arrived in Pershing Square six months ago -- billed as the answer to one of downtown's most human of needs. It's a luxury automated toilet, the kind seen on the streets of world-class cities such as Paris and New York and a prototype for as many as 150 that officials plan to roll out across Los Angeles in the next few years.

The City Council on Wednesday voted to seek bids for the development of a citywide automated toilet program, a day after it delayed consideration of an ordinance against public urination and defecation. City lawmakers will consider a plan to pay for the self-cleaning toilets by incorporating advertising kiosks on the outside of the facilities.

A Metropolitan Transportation Authority committee decided Wednesday that the agency should install public toilets at rail stations but not charge for the privilege of using them. The MTA's Operations Committee voted unanimously against charging, saying it would not be worth the effort to collect a quarter per visit. By disposing of the idea, the committee avoided any chance of running afoul of a state law banning pay toilets in public buildings.