When night falls, when the city falls into a deep sleep, will the toilet needs of those who return late and those who are still busy on the streets late at night be fully met?
The trivial matter of going to the toilet is related to the quality of life of the general public, and behind it is the great livelihood of the people. As part of the city's infrastructure, the level of service and opening hours of public toilets are directly related to the quality of life of citizens. Now, is it convenient to go to the toilet at night? What is the public toilet environment like? What are the comments and suggestions from the public? The reporter of Xinmin Evening News made a field visit
The public toilets in the square park of Yanzhong Green Park have a comfortable environment and are equipped with all kinds of facilities suitable for the elderly and children.
The public toilet environment is clean and tidy, and there is 24-hour intimate service.
At 11 o'clock in the evening, the reporter walked more than 100 meters from Exit 1 of Zhongtan Road Subway Station in Putuo District, and saw a public toilet operating 24 hours a day, with bright lights. The administrator's room is facing the door to the public restroom. From 10 p.m. to 5 a.m., Aunt Qing, the caretaker, would sit behind a wooden table next to the door and be on duty. Because of the rain, she had just laid a non-slip mat on the ground before the reporter came. Worried that the air would not be able to circulate and accumulate odors, she also placed incense in the toilet and replenished the entrance with free toilet paper ...... for the public
Aunt Qing, the public toilet administrator, is on duty at night.
During duty time, people cannot leave their posts. Aunt Qing told reporters, "The daily work is mainly cleaning, and we have to clean it thoroughly every one or two hours." In addition, it is necessary to discourage smoking, ensure the safety of facilities and equipment, and provide assistance and ...... to citizens in need"At the end of the night, the workload is not small at all.
The reporter found that there are not only cleaning supplies for usual use in the duty room, but also crutches and wheelchairs for citizens with reduced mobility at any time. Walking into the barrier-free toilet, there are guardrails installed next to the toilet. The baby care table and safety chair can be used normally. The accessible toilets are also equipped with small toilets for children and small sinks. Aunt Qing told reporters that many public restrooms have such configurations, "nothing special".
Scientific research and selection of sites to provide convenience for citizens.
In the middle of the night, are there many people coming to the public toilet? The reporter threw out such a question.
Today's rain is heavier, so it may come less, but there are still a lot of people coming and going at night. In addition to food delivery workers and ride-hailing drivers, there are also many citizens. Aunt Qing replied.
The reporter met Mr. Liu, a citizen who returned home late at night, and he believed that the setting of a 24-hour public toilet was necessary. He believes that the vicinity of the Zhongtan Road subway station is close to COSCO Liangwan City, and it is surrounded by residential areas, so there is a greater demand for public toilets.
Mr. Zhang, the courier brother, told reporters that he was very clear about the location of several 24-hour public toilets nearby, "I usually go around in a roughly area, and I must go to the toilet to deliver takeaways, and I basically remember that there are public toilets." He believes that although public toilets may not always be on the way, sometimes in the event of an emergency at night, 24-hour public toilets can provide a lot of convenience. Mr. Zhang also mentioned that there are several good late-night snack restaurants near the public toilet, and the 24-hour public toilet also benefits many people who eat at night.
At 11 p.m., a 24-hour public toilet in Putuo District is brightly lit.
It is understood that not all public toilets can become 24-hour public toilets, and the establishment of 24-hour public toilets in Putuo District was finally determined through large-scale stress tests on ordinary public toilets and the opinions of visiting citizens. Due to the more scientific selection of sites, it not only avoids the possible waste of resources, but also provides a lot of convenience for the public.
Public toilets are sufficient, but unfortunately they are not open all day.
When faced with an internal emergency on the street, most people rely on mobile mapping apps to find the nearest bathroom. In order to gain an in-depth understanding of the convenience of public toilets, at 9 p.m. on February 3, the reporter randomly took the vicinity of Tilanqiao subway station as a starting point to start a field experience of finding public toilets.
With Tilanqiao subway station as the center, the reporter found that there are 9 public toilets within a radius of one kilometer. In order to have a more comprehensive understanding of the actual situation of these toilets, the reporter visited these toilets on the spot and checked in one by one. These toilets are relatively close to each other, generally no more than a 5-minute walk, and the location selection is also more user-friendly, most of which are set up on both sides of the road to make it easier for the public to find. Some of the toilet signs are brightly lit so that they can be easily identified by the public at night. Although some of the bathrooms are hidden inside the community, they can be easily found with navigation and roadside toilet signs.
A 24-hour public toilet at the Hongkou Linping Road subway station is located at the intersection and is prominently located.
However, after 10 p.m., the situation changed. With the Tilanqiao subway station where the reporter is located, there is only one toilet left in operation within a kilometer radius. Originally, most of the restrooms in this area were open from 5 a.m. to 10 p.m. The only 24-hour toilet is exactly a kilometre away. In other words, after 10 p.m., there were almost no toilets open within a 10-minute walk of the reporter. The reporter noticed that next to some public restrooms that had closed earlier, there were still people waiting at bus stops. This may cause inconvenience to the public when using the toilet.
After 10 p.m., there was only one public toilet left within a kilometer of the reporter's vicinity.
The lack of app information makes it easy for citizens to run in vain.
Another key to finding a toilet is the navigation app on your phone. Whether the public toilet information on the map app is comprehensive and accurate greatly affects the convenience of citizens to find toilets. The reporter found that some mobile phone navigation software has the phenomenon that the information of the public toilet is not updated in time, which may make the public go to the toilet far away, can't find it or run in vain.
WeChat's "Shanghai Smart Toilet Search" applet can clearly and accurately display the location of the surrounding public toilets, their operating hours, whether they have completed the renovation for the elderly and children, and evaluation information. The navigation function needs to be implemented by jumping to the navigation app in the mobile phone. In contrast, other mapping software displays a comparatively insufficient amount of information. For example, many public restrooms in a certain mapping app show "no operating hours" or display the wrong operating hours. For example, the public restroom next to Lane 190 of Liaoyuan West Road shows "9:00-18:00", in fact, it is open from 5 a.m. to 10 p.m. Also, some public restrooms are not shown on the map. For example, the 24-hour public toilet next to Exit 1 of Linping Road Metro Station and the public toilet at No. 40 Hongzhen Old Street are located on the same road, only 200 meters apart.
In a map app, the public toilet in the circle is not displayed.
Because some map app platforms are not clear about the hours of operation of public restrooms, if citizens are still navigated to public toilets after they are closed, they end up "running for nothing". Master Wu, a night shift online car-hailing driver, told reporters, "Sometimes you can only try your luck when you use navigation to find toilets, and many toilets are closed at night, so you don't know if it's inconvenient to park." Usually driving at night, he often takes advantage of the dark sky to "solve it" on the green road. For 24-hour public toilets, Master Wu suggested that he hoped to add information on the "Shanghai Smart Toilet Search" applet or map navigation software to mark whether the public toilet is convenient for parking. The reporter noticed that the public toilet logo of Tencent Map already has this function.
Survey recommendations. Signage needs to be more visible.
Can I easily find a public toilet without using my phone to navigate? Ms. Xie, who is in her 60s, told reporters that if she wants to go to the bathroom in some unfamiliar places, "sometimes you can see the toilet or public toilet signs, sometimes you can't see the toilet or signs when you walk far away, and when you are in a hurry, you don't have so much time and patience to find a public toilet."
The reporter observed that the guiding role of public toilet signs needs to be strengthened urgently, and the content of public toilet signs lacks some necessary information. Without using navigation, the reporter walked from north to south at the intersection of Dalian Road, Xingang Road, and walked to Sanhe Road, Dalian Road, before finding a public toilet sign. In fact, there are public toilets that are closer to the east of the starting point. Since there was no sign pointing to the public toilet at the intersection of Dalian Road and Xingang Road, the reporter took a long detour. The reporter found that most of the public toilets will have signs in the road section where they are located, but there may not be signs at the intersection where the direction needs to be identified. The reporter also found that some public toilet signs will indicate the distance of public toilets, while some do not. Almost all signs do not indicate 24-hour public toilets, so even if you find a public toilet sign at night, the public toilet it points to may not be open. "If you can easily find the signs, the public toilets will be much easier to find. Ms. Xie said.
The operational details need to be further refined.
The reporter visited and found that although many public toilets in Shanghai provide great convenience for citizens who go to the toilet at night, some service details need to be improved.
In the 24-hour public toilet at the intersection of Zhongshan North Road, Zhongtan Road, Putuo District, the reporter found that the door of the barrier-free toilet located outside the door was locked. After prompting, the staff on duty in the public toilet found out about this phenomenon. However, the key to open the barrier-free bathroom door was not in his hands. The staff explained: "Our door is an anti-theft lock because it faces the outside. Members of the public may have locked the door after using the toilet. ”
The door to the accessible toilet is locked.
In addition, some public toilet operations have other flaws. The free toilet paper basket for public toilets is empty, and toilet paper can only be obtained by asking for it at the management room. There are also some non-24-hour public toilets that close early before the end of the announcement.
The small public toilet is also a business card of the city. At the 11th World Toilet Day theme publicity event last year, representatives of the sanitation industry in Songjiang, Pudong, Putuo, Minhang, Xuhui and other districts proposed to promote the 24-hour opening of sanitation public toilets. As of November last year, Shanghai's public toilet management and service industry has completed the renovation of 227 sanitation public toilets for the elderly and children, and 1,003 sanitation public toilets have been open 24 hours a day.
Public toilets are not only about the convenience of people's daily life, but also reflect the level of civilization and public services of a city. With the continuous optimization of online and offline public toilet facilities and the continuous improvement of service quality, I believe that this city card will become brighter and brighter.
Author: Cao Bowen (Xinmin Evening News, Xinmin Eye Studio).
*: Liu Xin, Cao Bowen.
Editors: Cao Bowen, Chen Jialin, Li Zheng.