OBSERVATION: Hong Kong’s MTR is one of the highest-rated public transportation systems in the world; however, at least 75% of the system’s stations lack public toilets which are an expected feature in international transit systems.
SOLUTION: While newer MTR stations have been thoughtfully designed to include public toilets, older stations need to be retrofitted with some form of public toilet solution in order to provide consistency throughout the entire network. When you gotta go, you gotta go!
The Hong Kong MTR system currently has 91 stations and 68 Light Rail stops across ten main commuter lines throughout Hong Kong Island, Kowloon and the New Territories. While most were constructed in the 1970s and 1980s, today just over 20 stations (primarily interchange stations) have been retrofitted with public toilets — a scant 25% of total MTR stations.
The MTR has cited various technical challenges associated with retrofitting existing stations with new toilets, which include limitations in existing sewerage capacities, the risks of overlapping plumbing with high voltage electrical systems, challenges in providing sufficient ventilation, among other factors. However, many of these obstacles are based on installing a traditional toilet system … maybe it’s time to think outside of the box?
IDEA: Could there be a system of unisex odorless waterless composting toilets that could be easily installed in each station? Could these be housed within vandal-resistant permanent enclosures that would have minimal impact on the station’s infrastructure?
Could a paid competition attract Hong Kong’s universities and product designers to invent a high-capacity composting toilet system that would cater to the masses, minimize water use, use composting materials derived from daily grounds keeping activities (which would otherwise wind up in a landfill) in order to provide a sanitary solution for a dense urban environment like Hong Kong?