A new pilot program for public restrooms requires tap access with a phone or key card. Homeless advocates say it could be another barrier for unhoused New Yorkers being able to access them.
When you gotta go, you gotta go. Just make sure you have a charged phone or you planned far enough ahead to get a special key card—two requirements for accessing the city’s newest public bathrooms.
The mayor announced a pilot program Wednesday morning to add 17 free public restrooms around the city. While the initiative was largely welcomed by New Yorkers who all—at some point—gotta go, some homeless advocates are raising questions about how unhoused New Yorkers will be able to access the new technology.
The new facilites, operated by tech-bathroom company Throne Labs, require a cell phone to enter. But homeless New Yorkers, who might benefit most from more public restrooms, often lack cell phones or a place to charge them. To use the bathrooms without a phone, users will have to track down a key card from a local business or nonprofit group…