OBSERVATION: Hong Kong has a shocking lack of public toilets relative to its urban density. The few toilets that are provided are often in a grave state of disrepair, but most of the time, the question on everyone’s mind is … when you gotta go, where do you go?
SOLUTION: Upgrade existing dilapidated public toilets and provide new toilets at strategic street level locations that are easily accessible and identifiable through a new graphic signage system and linked with smartphone apps.
Hong Kong’s public toilets are often few and far between, and while these are generally under the purview of Hong Kong’s Food & Environmental Hygiene Department (FEHD), the hygienic condition of these facilities is often appalling, and some are completely inaccessible to the elderly or those with disabilities. The directional signage for these toilets is often antiquated or missing, with text in English and Chinese only.
In the more developed urban areas of Hong Kong, people have come to rely upon nearby shopping centers which have toilets sequestered away on upper floors — reserved for tenants and customers — and many are locked and require key access to prevent members of the public from stealing valuable rolls of toilet paper! Since most public transport facilities like the MTR lack public toilets, the location of toilets within close proximity are often a carefully guarded secret — a nightmarish scenario for first-time visitors to the city. Ideally, members of the public should have DIRECT access to public toilets, without needing to enter private premises to “do their business.”
It is any wonder that visitors’ children end up urinating in trash bins, and baby nappies are changed in dark corners of public areas, as passersby howl in protest?
IMAGINE breathing a sigh of relief and your bladder relaxing as a new era of public toilets is ushered in! While the FEHD is making slow progress, here are some ideas:
- Provide an urgent comprehensive upgrade to the city’s public toilets, relative to fixtures, finishes, lighting, durability, vandal-resistance, accessibility and ventilation.
- Ensure all transportation interchanges (bus terminals, MTR stations, etc.) are equipped with public toilets.
- Provide at least one unisex disabled / family toilet at each public toilet location equipped with a flip-down diaper-changing table.
- Strive to have public toilets located within a 500 m walk of most public areas.
- Commission a study and provide new public toilets at key hotspots.
- Provide a new universal graphic signage / wayfinding system throughout the city that clearly identifies routes to toilets. Consider colorful pictograms that do not rely on English or Chinese script, which can be universally comprehended by visitors from any country.
- Develop a smartphone app that automatically identifies the location of public toilets relative to one’s location, provides real-time status reports whether the toilet is closed for cleaning or renovation, and provides a feedback mechanism for the public to rate toilets and provide helpful suggestions to the FEHD and their cleaning contractors.