Professor Noel Keough investigates the use of Calgary public toilets in this weeks edition of FFWD Magazine Life and Style.
"Last month, CBC Radio’s “Eye Opener” morning drive show ran a segment by reporter Karen Moxley about Calgary’s three automated public toilets.
One is located in Tomkins Park on 17th Avenue S.W. and the other two are side-by-side along the RiverWalk in East Village.
The toilets (manufactured by Exeloo East of Atlanta, Georgia) are permanent, self-cleaning fixtures with automatic doors that open and close like an elevator complete with Star Trek sound effects. A recorded voice tells how to get a freshly cleaned seat and warns that the maximum stay is 10 minutes. When the time is up, a red light flashes and the voice returns, urgently exhorting the patron to vacate. Exeloo toilets are successful in dozens of cities worldwide.
After a brief description of the loos and how they work, Moxley relates her own underwhelming visit, capitalizing on the “ick” factor with gross descriptions of “dirty, wet, slimy floor — no soap, no toilet paper” and, at Tomkins Park, “an alarming amount of thick black hair all over the floor.” Worse, the RiverWalk toilets were malfunctioning by refusing to extend a clean seat. A “no-go” for ladies.
The focus of Moxley’s report was based on an interview with Ald. John Mar, who said the rationale behind the toilets was to “prevent a spike in health concerns.” The strategy “is successful,” he claims, “insofar as we are providing public access to an automated and self-cleaning toilet system.”
But Moxley wasn’t convinced. “It’s not only debatable whether the system is self-cleaning or not, it’s debatable whether public toilets, these public toilets, are successful period!”
Click here to read the full article in FFWD.
Photograph by Joclyn Cozac of CBC