A new Google Maps layer shows public restrooms in NYC

There’s no elegant way to say this: going to the bathroom in New York is a nightmare. Public restrooms in the city are hard to find and are often either out of order or require you to buy something at a store or café to be able to use. The problem is so bad that individuals have created their own resources for finding public restrooms.

A new Google Maps layer introduced by the city attempts to tackle this issue. As part of a new program called “Ur in Luck,” the city has introduced a Maps view dotted with 1,000 public restrooms across the five boroughs. Users can view the map on their phones and locate the closest restroom that’s accessible to the public.

“Everyone — seniors, parents with kids, anyone enjoying the day outdoors, needs access to a public bathroom without having to buy anything or beg for a code,” Deputy Mayor for Operations Meera Joshi said in a press release. The city will also build 46 new restrooms and renovate 36 existing locations over the next five years.

The map will no doubt be helpful, but I can’t help but feel angry looking at it. One thousand bathrooms for 8 million New Yorkers is woefully insufficient, and it’s unclear if every restroom on the map is in operation. There are huge swarths of the city that show no public restrooms, including popular areas around Chinatown and Soho. Many of the bathrooms close at 4PM.

Plentiful public restrooms are a quality-of-life issue — it’s hard to enjoy a day out if you have to worry about when you’ll be able to use the restroom next. Many people, including pregnant people, kids, older adults, and people with disabilities, need restrooms that are easily accessible. Thousands of unhoused people often have nowhere private to go to the bathroom, a problem exacerbated by the pandemic. Rideshare drivers must resort to urinating in bottles and parking lots due to a lack of restrooms.

There is at least one important institution that does provide public restrooms: the library system. Public library branches across New York offer comfortable bathrooms, no purchase necessary. Public libraries play an important role in communities besides having bathrooms, offering charging stations, educational resources, or simply a cool, quiet place to sit in the summer. But it’s becoming harder for libraries in New York to do this essential work because Mayor Eric Adams cut more than $58 million from the library systems’ budget this year, causing many to have to close on Sundays.

In Japan, where I grew up, there are public bathrooms in every train station, cleaned constantly throughout the day. There are easily accessible restrooms at department stores, convenience stores, and at parks. New York is a world-class city, filled with so much to do and see that spending an entire day out of the house isn’t just common but fun. Our bathroom situation woefully falls short of what New Yorkers deserve: sanitary restrooms all over the city that assure everyone can “go” when they need to with dignity.