Where can you go on the go? A Project for Sanitation Justice (PSJ) Assessment of Public Restroom Access along Transit in San Diego, CA, USA
May 31, 2023
Abstract
Public restrooms are a critical need, especially for people “on the go” like transit riders. In this StoryMap, we examine where public restrooms exist along light rail (trolley) lines in San Diego, CA, and assess the basic health and safety features of transit-adjacent public restrooms. Key findings include: 1) 33% of trolley stations have access to a public restroom facility within a quarter-mile radius; 2) public restroom access is especially low at the two trolley stations with the highest average volume of riders; and 3) of the public restrooms that do exist near transit stations, many lack basic features such as baby changing stations, gender-neutral facilities, and menstrual products.
*Note: This story was optimized for desktop viewing. You may experience trouble loading on a mobile device.
Trolley Station 1: Introduction to Restrooms and Transit
Relieving oneself is a basic human need. Public sanitation resources are essential to ensuring public health, safety, and basic dignity.
Picture it: You are taking the trolley today to go to work, and you hop on the Blue Line to make your way toward San Ysidro, one of the highest-utilized transit stops in San Diego.
As you get off at your designated stop, suddenly, you desperately need to use the restroom. You quickly find out there are zero open-access restrooms within a quarter-mile radius.
Panic strikes as you race to find a restroom...
You head toward the San Ysidro McDonald's only to find out there is a fee to use the restroom and unfortunately, you do not have the coins to pay for the access.
Did you know?
In numerous United States urban centers, the lack of convenient, public restrooms near public transit lines is a systematic and widespread issue.
Public restrooms are a critical need, especially for people “on the go” like transit riders. However, restrooms adjacent to transit lines are often closed or otherwise unavailable, especially in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic.
Public restrooms along transit lines: A critical need
Transit agencies from New York City to Boston to Los Angeles have recently been highlighted for inadequate restroom access along transit lines for both riders and operators 1-3 . Previous work has noted apprehension among transit officials toward restroom facilities due to economic, security, and maintenance concerns 4-6 . In this StoryMap, we take a close look at restroom access along San Diego Metropolitan Transit System’s (SDMTS) trolley lines.
CBS 8 San Diego. (2021, August 15). San Diego County to get in front of shigellosis outbreak. YouTube.
Relieving oneself is a basic human need. Public sanitation resources are essential to ensuring public health, safety, and cleanliness. Public restrooms are identified as foundational resources for the prevention of infectious diseases spread through fecal-oral contact such as diarrhea, hepatitis A, and shigellosis. In the past four years alone, the City of San Diego has experienced two preventable infectious disease outbreaks, both of which were exacerbated by a lack of public restrooms: (1) an outbreak of hepatitis A killed 20 people and sickened nearly 600 others in 2017-18 7 ; (2) shigellosis sickened 50 people in the fall of 2021 8 . Now, in 2023, San Diego is experiencing another uptick in Hep A cases. The majority of people affected by these outbreaks are people experiencing homelessness – a group that is especially hard hit by the lack of access to restrooms.
Additionally, the COVID-19 pandemic has exacerbated the lack of access along transit lines, with restroom facilities that were closed at the peak of the pandemic still closed or only open for limited hours of operation 9,10 . Additionally, many public restrooms adjacent to transit have social and physical barriers that may limit equitable restroom usage (e.g., fees, time limits, security enforcement, and non-ADA-accessible options) 11,12 .
This StoryMap answers the following research questions:
What are the characteristics of public restrooms along the San Diego Metropolitan Transit System’s (SDMTS) trolley lines?
How are restrooms distributed across trolley lines and stations?
And, what health, safety, and accessibility features are or are not available?
Trolley Station 2: Defining A Public Restroom
Based on assessments, and due to the inconsistency of public restroom accessibility, we divided the restrooms into four categories: Open Access Facilities; Subjective Access Facilities; Closed Facilities; and Excluded Facilities
(1) Open Access Facilities are open and accessible for anyone to use without experiencing a barrier.
Examples of Open Access Restrooms. (left to right: Mission Bay de Anza, Broadway Landing, and Runner's Bathroom-Mission Bay)
Now imagine...
You are in downtown San Diego and you found a public restroom within walking distance, hooray! But wait...there are barriers to accessing this restroom!
As you approach, you see armed guards and a laundry list of rules. For example, you must not use the restroom for longer than 10 minutes, or else, when your 10 minutes is up, you will be forced to leave with the sound of pounding on the door.
This scenario is what we call encountering subjective access.
(2) Subjective Access Facilities have one or more of the following barriers:
security guards or attendants;
time limits on usage;
limits and other rules about what personal belongings can be brought into the restroom; or
the user must get a free token from an adjacent business to gain entry to the restrooms.
What do subjective-access restroom facilities within 0.25 miles of trolley stations in San Diego look like?
City Adminstration Building (Civic Center)
Security guard present, monitors and enforces time limit 10
Fault Line Park
Restroom users must find the security guard and ask them to unlock the restroom. Additionally, 10 minute time limit and a long list of rules to abide by. 9
Gaslamp Square Park
Attendant on-site needs to unlock restroom 8
La Mesa Branch Library
Guard present at restroom entrance 7
Mission Valley Branch Library
Guard present at library entrance 6
San Diego Central Library
Guard present at library entrance 5
San Ysidro Branch Library
Guard present at library entrance 4
Santee Trolley Square
Attendant on-site who needs to unlock restroom 3
St. Vincent de Paul
Guard present at front gate 2
The Hilton ("Hilton Parking")
Must go into the Starbucks nearby and ask for a token 1
Valencia Park/Malcolm X Library
Guard present at library entrance
(3) Closed Facilities were either determined not to exist when the PSJ research team visited during field assessment or they existed but were marked (e.g., closed signage) or appeared to be permanently closed (e.g., taped off, locked, and/or gated).
Example of closed restrooms. (left to right: Mason Street-Old Town, SDSU Transit station, and Collier Park)
(4) Excluded Facilities do not meet PSJ public restroom inclusion criteria which include:
Cannot charge a fee for use;
Cannot be in a facility that charges an entry fee (paid museums, concert venues, some
campgrounds);
Must be a permanent structure (no portable toilets);
Cannot be located inside a private business;
Cannot be permanently closed or under construction; and
Cannot be located beyond a security screening checkpoint such as those at K-12 schools, airports, and military bases.
Example of restrooms that do not meet PSJ public restroom inclusion criteria. (Left to right: Mills Building, Santa Fe Depot, and Old Town Market)
Trolley Station 3: PSJ's Approach
PSJ team members utilizing ArcGIS Pro software
The Project for Sanitation Justice (PSJ) launched in 2020 with the objective of identifying and visualizing public restroom facilities to promote action toward more just and equitable decision-making around public restrooms in San Diego County, California, USA 12 .
SDSU Report Spotlights Downtown Restroom Shortcomings
Please take a look at our interactive map of San Diego County restrooms below:
Public Restrooms in San Diego County: https://arcg.is/1P4jT9
Using our database of public restrooms 14 and SDMTS' stop 15 and restroom 16 location data, we identify restrooms within a quarter-mile radius of SDMTS trolley stations. This buffer is based on the concept of the "5-minute walk" also known as "the pedestrian shed". This is a known distance that people are willing to walk without resorting to other motorized forms of transportation. 17
ArcGIS Field Map Smart Form PSJ field assessment tool
PSJ utilizes Esri platforms for data collection such as ArcGIS Field Maps Smart Forms, which allow the team to confirm restroom locations and perform field assessments of these facilities 13 . The ArcGIS Field Maps app also allows the team to make real-time updates to our publicly-available restroom map shown above.
We use Field Maps to assess transit adjacent public restrooms. This assessment includes an evaluation of facility accessibility, hours of operation, and the presence of ADA-accessible stalls, gender-neutral facilities, baby-changing stations, and menstrual products.
Trolley Station 4: Findings
In this section, we first introduce our findings across trolley lines and delve into findings at public restrooms across the transit system.
A total of 63 SDMTS stations were identified through the SDMTS Trolley System map. Esri’s ArcGIS Pro 3.0 was utilized to map and determine which public restrooms are within a quarter-mile radius of SDMTS trolley stations. The PSJ research team identified and assessed a total of 53 public restrooms at these 63 stations. Thirty-two of these restrooms meet PSJ restroom inclusion criteria (open and subjective access facilities). Each of the 53 public restrooms, regardless of facility status, are tabulated and mapped below.
Restroom Access within a quarter-mile of SDMTS Trolley Lines: https://arcg.is/1OrGjn1
Looking only at open and subjective access facilities that meet PSJ inclusion criteria, we see the following:
By trolley line, the Blue Line has the most stations (32).
The Green Line has 27 stations.
The Orange Line has 19 stations.
Across all lines, 42 stations have zero restrooms.
Out of the 63 SDMTS trolley stations, one-third (21 stations, 33%) have access to an open and/or subjective access public restroom facility within a quarter-mile radius. Note: some stations serve more than one trolley line.
The majority of SDMTS-adjacent open and subjective access restrooms (13) are along the Blue Line.
Proportionally, the Green Line has the fewest restrooms where only 9 of 27 stations have an open and/or subjective restroom available.
This table shows the ten most highly-trafficked trolley stations and the number of open or subjective access restrooms within a quarter-mile radius. The 12th and Imperial SDMTS station in Downtown San Diego (#1 rank in ridership volume) has only two free and publicly-accessible restrooms, while the San Ysidro station (#2 rank in ridership volume) has zero public restrooms. 18
When contextualized by SDMTS ridership data, PSJ’s assessment reveals a shockingly low count of open or subjective access restrooms, especially near high-volume transit stops.
Not only is utilizing a restroom for relieving yourself of basic bodily functions necessary but finding a restroom with important amenities can be just as important!
For example: What if you, a friend, or a family member desperately need to utilize a gender-neutral or "family" restroom? You may find this a daunting task as PSJ has revealed that less than half (32%) of the public restroom facilities near SDTMS lines have this option.
Additionally, having access to menstrual products, ADA stalls, or even baby changing stations.
Making restrooms inclusive and accessible among all populations is vital for equitable access to public restrooms.
We find low accessibility and quality among the public restroom facilities that do exist.
A low percentage of facilities offer 24/7 hour availability (only count: 4, percentage: 13%); showers (4, 13%); menstrual products (5, 16%); gender-neutral or “family” restroom option (10, 32%); and baby changing stations (13, 41%).
Not all restrooms have an ADA-accessible option, with (2, 9%) lacking an accessible stall for those with disabilities.
Trolley Station 6: Takeaways
Based on these findings, we identify transit stops with inadequate public restroom access and analyze these results in the context of transit infrastructure ridership data.
Restroom access is limited along U.S. transit lines and in San Diego in particular. This StoryMap highlights patterns of restroom access and quality along SDMTS light rail lines and contextualizes these patterns among transit ridership data. There are immediate and long-term ways to improve restroom access and quality.
One immediate solution that we propose is opening back up the 12 closed restroom facilities that exist along SDMTS lines. One longer-term solution is to remove or limit barriers to access such as locks, fees, and/or security restrictions (e.g., metal detectors and armed security guards).