The European system of paying to pee in train stations and at crowded tourist areas keeps the facility clean as they are maintained by a staff of cleaners working constantly. The price has become steep--1.5 euros in some places. insert your coins and pass through the turnstile into state of the art no touch flush and faucets. NYC need to provide free toilets for the indigent, but pay toilets for those who prefer "upscale" facilities. This said, it is the users who make the mess. I've used unmonitored public squat toilets in densely populated poor neighborhoods in Beijing with absolutely no privacy that were much cleaner than those in Penn Station. Maybe I got lucky and chose the better ones.
2
Cleanest public restroom I've ever been in was under an over pass in Istanbul. The key? Full time attendant and a nominal charge to use the facility to pay for the attendant. why is this so hard in our country?
3
'"I can't think of a single worse public restroom that I've ever been in in my entire life."
ADAM J. KURTZ, an artist and author who lives in Brooklyn, describing a Penn Station men's room that Amtrak says it will "refresh" this fall."'
Then You, My Friend,
have NEVER
been to Brazil.
ADAM J. KURTZ, an artist and author who lives in Brooklyn, describing a Penn Station men's room that Amtrak says it will "refresh" this fall."'
Then You, My Friend,
have NEVER
been to Brazil.
3
In many public restrooms in Europe (including train stations and airports), an attendant constantly cleans the restroom for which patrons are asked to pay a nominal fee, anywhere from 10 to 50 Euro cents. When you're out and about and there are no other options, definitely not a bad idea! If they could only bring this concept to Amtrak stations in the USA!
4
First thing to do: raise the toilet paper holders. They are currently positioned (in almost ALL restrooms) far too close to the floor.
1
The men's restroom at JFK is vile. What message does that send to international travelers about us?
3
Amtrak offers a Guest Rewards Program to frequent travelers that has one principal advantage, i.e., the restroom in the Lounge available erratically to its customers. If your miles slip below the magic number in any given year, frequent travelers are "punished" by having to us the public restrooms. The Guest Rewards Program is as attractive and intelligent as the restrooms at Penn Station.
2
My mother used to take me and my brother to shows in the City in the 1960s, and those bathrooms were in the same location back then and they were as awful as they are now. But, if memory serves, back then the men's room is where the women's room currently is, and vice versa. Of course there was also smoking that added to the mix of "aromas."
2
Penn Station and Grand Central formerly had large restrooms to match their size. Grand Central's main men's room had 30 urinals, 60 toilets, 30 dressing rooms with sink and toilet, and 30 more with an additional shower. Obviously, many people using fewer fixtures results in a decline in cleanliness.
We really need to take forceful action against the homeless who have taken over Penn Station. Every time I use the place, I find I nearly have to step over them in the corridors from the subway. Railroad stations are not homeless shelters. I do feel we should help these people, they do not have the right to occupy private property when they have no business there.
We really need to take forceful action against the homeless who have taken over Penn Station. Every time I use the place, I find I nearly have to step over them in the corridors from the subway. Railroad stations are not homeless shelters. I do feel we should help these people, they do not have the right to occupy private property when they have no business there.
4
Mr. Kurtz and Mr. Carlson need to get out more...
2
Just go in the street. The mayor says its OK
6
Of all the world's major cities, New York City does not have the smarts to provide clean public restrooms for its citizens. This situation is at pre-historic levels of civilization.
3
This is nothing compared to the filth and scrawl at a restroom on 101 just south of Tillamook, OR. It looks great from the road, but horribly run down and filthy on the inside. It was much worse than any 3rd world bathrooms I've used.
2
Just about every nook and cranny and passage way in Penn Station is used as a toilet. The walls just inside the new areas under the Foley post office are stained with urine. I would only get on the occasionally working elevators leading from NJtransit and the LIRR platforms when dragging luggage due to the eye stinging stench of urine. I once used the bathroom on the concourse of Penn Station and it smelled better than some of the corridors within the station. Homelessness and vagrancy are among NYC's biggest problems.
8
I have rarely been in acceptable public bathrooms in America. When I was in Europe there were more and nicer public facilities than in America. The ones in Grand Central Station may not be as bad as those in Penn Station but they don't smell too good either. And I haven't noticed the restrooms in places like Ellis Island, or anywhere else to be worthy of stars for cleanliness. What is it about America that so many of our public spaces, especially the restrooms, are kept in such disgusting conditions?
7
Spare me the hot air Tucker Carlson. You and your fellow Republicans make certain that public facilities like the Amtrak bathrooms are poorly funded. You prattle on about government spending, cut budgets to the marrow and then whine when you don't get the services you want. Want to see Penn Station "razed to the ground?" Then fund a proper replacement. No? Of course not because having billionaires pay their fair share of taxes is anathema to you.
15
Ryan - Dirty bathrooms are the fault of Republicans? Must everything in the life of a liberal progressive Democrat be so political? Are all the homeless and others who use the walls and floors as urinals Republicans? It's that attitude that keeps you and your ilk from winning elections. Keep it up, please.
3
Depends on who is cutting the budget, eh Tired? Never met a Republican who wanted more money for general use (public transportation, homelessness help, etc.) but who was unwilling to line their own pockets. Some Dems too, to be sure, but the vast bulk....
1
Since when has a Republican had any say on a budget in NYC? Federal, State and City have complete control through NYC's administration which is Democrat.
This article is reminding me of the deplorable bathrooms in the old Yankee Stadium. Wanting to avoid them led to my decision to limit beer consumption at the game.
5
Clearly, these bridge and tunnlers have never seen a subway bathroom.
3
Nor spent much time on another continent not named Europe. Tucker, I'm sure you spent a lot of time in Pakistan's grittiest corners. I also find it amusing when 28-year-olds talk about their lifetime - ha!
Every time I try and find a bathroom in the subway the doors are locked.
1
What subway bathroom? If such exist, they are hidden or locked, or too disgusting to use.
2
There is a very easy solution to this. Apportion some space to a private operator who will charge $5 per use of the restroom. The restrooms will be attended and clean and the entry fee will act as a barrier to homeless people. Another solution may be to offer a membership like a club for clean and civilized bathroom. I would gladly pay the fee for such a service. Right now I try not to eat or drink while in Penn Station because I don't want to have to use the rest rooms. To be fair, there will also be a non-fee bathroom and consumers can make their choice.
3
That's what the Swiss do. Want a clean toilet? Pay the 'cleaner' at the entrance. Not fussy? Can't pay? Then use the no cost toilet. Surprise is the no cost is 100% cleaner than nearly all public WCs in the great USA.
2
One reason why German speaking Europe is so pleasant and convenient to travel through! Clean and efficient!
1
Clearly, Adam J. Kurtz never used the bathroom at CBGB.
1
Hey those restrooms were part of the CHARM of CBGB!
1
I try to avoid them when I am there. The restroom is not just filthy, many of the faucets don't work.
2
Actually the women's room in LIRR waiting room isn't too bad. NYC bathrooms are in short supply and generally dreadful..try the awful ones in the much touted
Chelsea Market
Chelsea Market
3
Not only the filth, but the din of the hand driers, the smell of disinfectant, and the glaring ultraviolet lights adds to make it horrifying. (And, as Mark points out below, ditto the LIRR waiting room bathrooms.) I would much rather go in the woods if they were available, but sometimes I am so desperate I have to use this bathroom when I hit Penn because the bathroom on the LIRR train was locked, or, worse, clogged (and sometimes overflowing). At least I don't have to use the stalls, and if I'm lucky, I manage not to touch anything (apart from my own anatomy, which guaranteed is cleaner than any surface therein, including the sinks.) I feel for my girlfriend on the couple of occasions she has had to brave the depicted bathroom.
2
There is no solution until there are alternative adequate bathing and toilet facilities for the homeless. In other words, never.
6
Somehow, at least to me, worrying about the public toilets in Penn Station when trains are derailing seem like rearranging the deck chairs on the Titanic.
3
"worrying about the public toilets in Penn Station when trains are derailing
seems like rearranging the deck" No, it is all part of the same cultural and management mediocrity in the American transportation system.
seems like rearranging the deck" No, it is all part of the same cultural and management mediocrity in the American transportation system.
4
Penn Station bathrooms are not inherently disgusting. What makes them gross is how people use them. If you pee while squatting above a toilet seat, the seat gets drizzled upon. If you then decide not to wipe your drizzle off the seat, the next person can't sit down and has to squat above. More drizzle. And so on.
13
Outstanding 'drizzle' analysis !
1
"Be a sweetie,
Wipe the seatie."
Anonymous
Wipe the seatie."
Anonymous
You think those bathrooms are bad? Try the "bathrooms" in southern Italy, Greece, France, and a few islands which depend on tourism for their livilihood. Most of those hundreds of sidewalk cafes have no soap, no towels, and are generally filthy. There absolutely must be outbreaks of communicable diseases such as hepatitis which are kept from the public.
Hello, Califace,
This is not Southern Italy, Greece, France, tourist islands. This is New York City in the United States of America. Supposedly, the world looks here for the best of whatever. Joke.
This is not Southern Italy, Greece, France, tourist islands. This is New York City in the United States of America. Supposedly, the world looks here for the best of whatever. Joke.
1
what about the bathrooms in the long island rail road concourse, which are equally disgusting?
4
As terrible as those are, I happened to use the one upstairs at Amtrak and was shocked that they were worse. I know, it's hard to imagine, but it's true.
1
Someone should tell "progressive Democrat" Johnson , that if you can't solve the
little problems "in the world" you don't have a chance of solving the larger problems. Those restrooms have been a disgrace for 40 years or more and NOTHING has been done to address the root causes: vagrants loitering, even living, in the cubicles and hopelessly inadequate maintenance. Keep the conditions in mind when the two governors responsible are up for re-election next year. Tucker Carlson is dead right on this issue!!
little problems "in the world" you don't have a chance of solving the larger problems. Those restrooms have been a disgrace for 40 years or more and NOTHING has been done to address the root causes: vagrants loitering, even living, in the cubicles and hopelessly inadequate maintenance. Keep the conditions in mind when the two governors responsible are up for re-election next year. Tucker Carlson is dead right on this issue!!
10
Carlson is dead wrong in that he advocates for paltry budgets that cause Penn Station to be a fiasco. That the place operates at all given the shoestring it survives on is a miracle. Fund the place properly, then demand results, otherwise you're just bloviating. But then again that's what Tucker is paid to do.
9
Funding public facilities, funding public transportation, funding public education - not a priority of the Democrats or Republicans. That is the reason the country has been leaking (pardon the pun) down the drain for 40 years.
The famed architect Lou Kahn died in a restroom stall in Penn Station. I can't think of a worse place to have a heart attack.
13
Refreshing the public toilets - not bathrooms - toilets. Somehow Americans have an aversion to calling these 'stalls' what they are - toilets. Where is 'the dept. of health' in NYC and throughout the country? A public health scandal - doesn't seem to bother the people as much as a sex scandal. These toilets would be razed and replaced in most industrialized countries of the world, including some poor countries. What is included in 'refreshing'? Paint over the crud???? My God, how many reasons do we need to be ashamed?
2
Mr. Kurtz has obviously never been to a foreign country. In a restaurant in Vietnam two years ago, the 'restroom' consisted of a hole in the floor which you had to squat over......
2
Don't forget that large rat making it's way to the surface via the drain pipes. Not to close, may be rabid!
In Italy I saw spotless,clean,hand painted
tiled bathrooms with just a hole in the
floor.
tiled bathrooms with just a hole in the
floor.
1
We had those in some bars when I lived in Puerto Rico.Make sure to grab some napkins before you go in.
Part of the problem are the people using them and failing to flush the toilets, pick up paper that they have dropped on the floor, and just not being courtesy to the next person.
I can only imagine what their home bathrooms must look like if they treat them in the same manner.
As an aside, the bathrooms on the western end of the Massachusetts Turnpike can give Penn Station as run for its money in disgust.
I can only imagine what their home bathrooms must look like if they treat them in the same manner.
As an aside, the bathrooms on the western end of the Massachusetts Turnpike can give Penn Station as run for its money in disgust.
10