Closed public bathrooms at the 72nd St. subway station in New York.
Photographer: Selina Xu/Bloomberg
Will New York City Finally Get More Public Bathrooms?
The Covid pandemic made a public restroom shortage even worse. The NYC City Council is trying to take the first step in decades to build more.
Answering the call of nature when you’re out and about in New York City isn’t easy — and never has been. With only 1,103 public toilets, the odds are stacked against the city’s 8.4 million residents and more than 60 million annual tourists who typically walk the neighborhoods. NYC ranks 93rd in the US for public bathrooms per capita.
Now a bill aimed at opening more public bathrooms has support to pass the City Council by the end of September, according to Manhattan Borough President Mark Levine. The legislation would require the city’s Department of Transportation and Department of Parks & Recreation to propose at least one public bathroom location in each of the city’s approximately 168 ZIP codes, as well as to lay out costs that could top tens of millions of dollars.