To be annoyed at the lack of bathrooms

[Applecharm25]

I have my period. I can feel that i need to change my tampon.

I'm out walking round my city. There are no public bathrooms anywhere near me.

I see a sign for a bathroom in a small shopping centre near me. I walk in. The bathroom is actually in a shop. I'm told that the bathroom is only available for paying customers.

So now I have to get in a long queue and wait further and buy something while I really need to change my tampon.

Surely there should be better toilet services available.

I'm not saying replace existing toilets either!

I'm talking about the council saying "we have this space and we need more ladies loos. In the space we have we can fit 5 standard loos plus a disabled loo. But we're going to be groundbreaking and install a changing cubicle for sanitary items. So it will be 4 standard loos, a changing cubicle and a disabled loo"
So then you have queues of women who want to pee, poo and change their sanitary items in an actual loo for whatever reason, waiting for 4 loos whilst the changing cubicles remains largely unused because, as evidenced by this thread, most women don't want to change their sanitary products whilst standing in a little cubicle and then (presumably) have to sanitise the area because they've leaked and pooled blood on the floor. Or it won't get used because someone didn't wipe down and now it stinks of and is covered in someone else's period blood...

Can you see the problem now?

And especially not "well we'll just stick 5 loo free changing cubicles in". Which would be mostly wasted space.

Wear a skirt then you can change it while you're walking up the road. Believe me in desperate times I've actually done this! 🫤

I never said replace either...

Well to me, it looks like they definitely have space for more toilets/changing rooms, where I live.

They barely have any public toilets at all. They're not lacking space .
They're just not bothered

That's indeed an absurd hypothetical scenario. And you misunderstood again. In the event when the council miraculously decided to build a whole new toilet, I wouldn't ask that some toilets be cubicles-only.

But with that hypothetical council, what could happen is "we will build 4 toilets" and then someone could point out that, while there's not enough plumbing to build a fifth, there's space to build a cubicle on top of 4 toilets. Now how would that be a problem?

In your example you're assuming that we would have to squeeze out 1/5 toilets for a cubicle.

No one ever said that if could get a toilet, we'd rather have just a cubicle.

And let's consider what this "sanitary changing pod" would require:

It's going to need to be at least as wide as a normal cubicle but probably should be a little wider because some are so narrow moving your arms is almost impossible anyway. So probably can't fit as many as a standard cubicle into the same space so where we would have put 5 toilets we can now put 4 (which, to be clear, is being converted into a toilet and isn't already one!)

It's going to need sanitary bins, that's fine all ladies loos have them anyway

It's going to need toilet roll, again normal. But it's also going to need to go somewhere as there's no toilet to flush it down. The sanitary bin? Well it's going to fill up much quicker that way so will need emptying more. Or something else? Oh that's filling up this space more.

It's still going to need sinks so plumbing with have to happen anyway

It will need some kind of seat, a chair or fold down seat, because whilst they might not all need a wee at the same time, some women will still want to sit down. This takes up more space again, better increase that to a bigger cubicle actually to be effective. We can fit 3 in here now...

Oh but we need to provide something to sanitise that seat. Because someone's vagina and ass have definitely been on there and people are not going to want to sit on that. I mean people are squeamish about loo seats and on those most of the "dirty bits" are actually situated down the "hole" as it were. Plus, as this is specifically for changing sanitary products then there's a good chance there will be blood. Even if they stand up, there may be blood on the floor.... well, we'll need a good supply of wipes. But need to be careful about chemicals because it's just open to the public to use...

Maybe some kind of sluice could be included to flush the floor, a bit like a toilet flush. Well that will required the cubicle being fully enclosed, the plumbing and pipework fitted and probably needs the cubicle to be bigger. It will make 2 cubicles instead...

You know what, we are having to fit plumbing and drainage and sanitary bins and loo roll anyway. Let's build 5 toilet cubicles which any woman can use for any purpose instead...

I've explained several times. It's because I simply don't think the number of women changing san pro only and not also using the loo at any one point in time is large enough that giving them special san pro cubicles is going to make a noticeable difference, so I think it would be far better to put the effort into funding and building the facilities we actually need, which is more toilets. I also gave a fairly well fleshed out proposal for a new type of female-design enclosed urinal that could be installed without needing full soil stacks which IMO gives far more benefit than a san-pro changing only cubicle.

You are "dallying" with the idea they "could work". Good for you. I've thought about it and I don't think they will. Isn't that the point of making a suggestion, to get other persectives? Or was I supposed to just nod in agreement so as not to spoil a nice dally?

It's not an absurd hypothetical situation.

I just think you're never going to get it.

I just think they have decided they won't understand and that they are 100% right and won't consider that making more public conveniences that can be used for any toileting purpose is the bigger issue

No

I'm saying that in any building there is limited space. And that fitting 5 standard toilets into that limited space rather than 4 and a cubicle is better.

There will always be limited space. And a cubicle for changing will be at least as big as toilet cubicle.

😂Of course 5 toilets would be better than 4 toilets + 1 cubicle. Not denying that. I'm saying that 4 toilets + 1 cubicle would be better than 4 toilets.

But they are going to at least take up the same space...

I agree with you! Toilets, female-urinal thingies, are all better than an empty cubicle with just a bin and loo rolls, obviously!

But just that in the even that if these things cannot be built but there is space, there's no harm in adding an extra door and making it into a cubicle!

I'm not saying that a Period Pod should take priority over any of the facilities you're suggesting.

Actually 3 standard toilet cubicles and 1 oversized or disabled access toilet, or 4 larger than standard cubicles would be a better use of space. Really helpful for women with kids.

So are you suggesting 4 toilets is better than 4 toilets + 1 cubicle? I mean let's say it's
A: [OOOO_] vs.
B: [OOOOU]
C: [OOOOO]
where __ is empty space, O is a loo, and U a cubicle without a loo. You think A is better than B? For your record I think C is best, but if C cannot happen due to some physical limitation, than I think B is better than A.

They're definitely not lacking space anywhere either.

There's loads of space for loos and/or period pods if they wanted to put them into towns.

The council's are just not bothered!

OK with that absurd sketch I think I'm off. 😂 Never in my life have I thought this much about public toilets. But for the record I think the best thing would be:
[OOOOO] ---> [OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOXXXXXX]
where X's are bigger toilets for disability/women with kids, etc.

Yes I am. Because I think your period pod will be unused 90% of the time, whereas larger toilet cubicles allow women especially women with kids to get in and out faster, which will increase the overall throughput more than the odd woman being able to use the pod instead of a cubicle, and as a bonus improve everyone's comfort on the job, as it were.

Now this is the maths they should be teaching in schools!

Oh ok, this I might be able to get on board with, making that extra space part of a bigger toilet. I don't know how the maths will work out in terms of shortening the queue but if it does your way, then sure. Anything to make everyone's experience better.

Just in case the initial bathroom vs toilet debacle isn't settled, I suggest asking for the throne the next time! 😁

Yes so instead of

[oooo_]
It would be
[OOOO]
Make the cubicles fit the space with extra room (like I said before, some cubicles you can barely move your arms in, let alone making it more accessible for mothers and children!) rather than the extra gap at the end being empty

No, because I'm saying the cubicle would be the same size as a toilet....

A period pod is one of the odder ideas I've seen.

My local council has closed a toilet down an alley way, access to a couple of shops/offices there. You can imagine what men do when they discover there's no public loo there anymore.