Unsuck DC Metro: What's the Pee Policy?

Monday, November 28, 2011

What's the Pee Policy?

The station manager at East Falls church regularly lets riders into the restroom there, no questions asked.

Then again, I've had other station managers rudely tell me "no" without explanation.

Then, there's stuff like this.

Looking through the WMATA website, I found this audit of restroom accessibility. In it, it recommends revisiting the rules, which were summed up as follows:

“The Station Manager on duty has sole discretion to accept or reject customer requests for use of facilities.” The Special Order also states that WMATA’s “policy is to make a restroom available to customers in limited circumstances. The limitation is necessary to control crime and maintain security.”

The report also recommended Metro look into allowing station managers to remotely open restrooms so they wouldn't have to escort riders.

It also mentioned studying restrooms like these. (Is this still there?)

No idea if Metro followed up on any of the recommendations, but it would appear that restroom accessibility remains solely up to the station manager.

Could a more liberal or consistent policy help with the sick passenger problem?

What has been your experience?

Of course, it's unclear if some employees use said toilets at all.

Other items:
Transit benefits on chopping block (Examiner)

Comments (46)

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+4 Vote up Vote down

Anon · 695 weeks ago

I had an emergency come upon me once as I was riding the Green Line towards Ft. Totten.

I ran off the train and up the escalators at CoHi and begged the station manager to use the restroom. They refused me. I should have just dropped trou and shit on their shoes, but somehow I made it upstairs and into Potbelly.

On two occasions while waiting for late night trains at Ft. Totten, after 17 minute wait at Gallery Place and seeing a 19 minute wait ahead for the Red Line to Glenmont), the station manager has allowed me to use the restroom with no problem.

It needs to be out of the discretion of station managers. I'm sure the ADA and likely local zoning codes could cover the issue here.

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@chrisunwired · 695 weeks ago

I've had a HORRIBLE experience with the station manager at Pentagon. We had been in DC drinking and was on the second-to-last train of the night coming home. I made it across the bridge before I felt I would burst. Instead of peeing in the rail car (as others often do) we stopped at Pentagon and politely asked the station manager to use the restroom.

He declined.

I told him I was trying to do the right thing and not pee in public and thus create a situation that eventually someone may have to clean up. He didn't care - no way, no how was I using the bathroom. In fact he told me there WAS NO BATHROOM anywhere on the station property (a lie).

I told him I was going back to the lower platform and would be peeing down there.

About the time we got back down there I was greeted by a police officer. I hadn't done anything, yet, and explained the situation to him. I told him yes, I was drunk - this is why I didn't drive, but that by not driving I was at the mercy of Metro to find somewhere to pee instead of pulling over to a gas station. I told him I was trying to do the right thing in the situation and was trying my best to be polite.

Luckily the police officer understood and took us back to the station manager and told the station manager he needed to let us use the bathroom. The station manager reluctantly escorted us to the restroom (I guess they had built one while we were on the lower level).

WHY does there need to be SO MUCH drama here? People are TRYING to do the right thing and keep the system clean. These station managers are being asshats for no reason and it only results in the system being worse.

1 reply · active 536 weeks ago

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n2deep · 695 weeks ago

the pentagon station has a policy of no public restroom..Period. because it is the pentagon and they want to control 100% of activity there.
as for the rest of the system. metro was never designed to have public restrooms. when designing the system new york and chicago were looked at as models. it was determined that crimes were committed in public restrooms as well as safety issues, so metro purposely designed their system without public restrooms.
but somehow AFTER 911 they decided public restrooms were needed for extreme cases. however people seem to believe that if you drink too much then you should have access to bathrooms. i believe this was a big mistake to even offer them to the public.. i would not want to be a lone female station manager and someone wants to use the bathroom. it seems the safety of the employee is totally disregarded.

since they have been open i have seen homeless somehow get in, lock themselves in for hours on end then we they finally bathe and leave there was big pile of shit in the middle of the floor. i had a "couple" who needed the bathroom for the little girl they had with them. after exiting they wanted a complaint form because there was a urinal in the bathroom and how dare metro expose a little girl to a urinal. i have heard complaints of no baby changing table, rough toilet paper, too cold, too hot etc etc.

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anon · 695 weeks ago

A couple weeks back at Rosslyn, I was suddenly hit with a wave of nausea. I ran to the station manager and asked to please use the facilities. He ignored me completely. I asked again. Nothing.
I felt the nausea subside and decided to try to make it to work only to have it return when I got on the train.
I ended up getting sick on the train.
I was miserable at the time, but in retrospect, I was sort of glad someone at Metro had to clean up my sick. Karma's a bitch.

2 replies · active 695 weeks ago

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@chrisunwired · 695 weeks ago

Again - people TRYING to do the right thing only to have Metro be stupid and have it come back on them. Idiots.

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F'n JD · 695 weeks ago

Couldn't you have used a trash can or the railbed?

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John · 695 weeks ago

What is easier to deal with? Piss within the metro system or piss in the toilets? Vomit within the metro system or vomit in the toilets? I could go on, but you get the point... Bathrooms should be accessible, ESPECIALLY on weekends. Sometimes I have to transfer and end up waiting 20 minutes for the first train and 20 minutes for the second train. It's not fun to deal with...

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DC Denizen · 695 weeks ago

The only problem I could see with public restrooms in the Metro would be security. If we think crime is bad now, just imagine if criminals had out of the way areas with doors and stalls and no security cameras in which to commit their misdeeds...

I once had a Huntington Station Manager ask me if I could wait until she had "cleared" the train at the platform before she could let me into the restroom. Seemed fair. I didn't interfere with her duties, and then I was able to use the bathroom. I know that a rational Station Manager can be a tough thing to find in this system, though, especially if it involves extra work for them. Bless you, Huntington Station Manager.

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raisonnés · 695 weeks ago

I simply do not understand why WMATA doesn't install some kind of European-style pay-per-use restroom scheme. Hell, charge peak "fares" on top of $3.00 a pop and it'll pay for itself. I'd just like an option other than puking on the tracks next time I get sick on the Metro. It's happened to me twice and I'm a perfectly healthy young person. I feel awful for anyone with a medical condition.

8 replies · active 694 weeks ago

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DC Denizen · 695 weeks ago

They do have one of those at Huntington. It's always out of order. Surprise, surprise.

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raisonnés · 695 weeks ago

Out of curiosity, how much does it cost? Charge enough money and you could hire bathroom attendants during peak hours. Hell, make it timed so that you have to keep feeding in money public-shower style. I know it'll never be swanky, but desperate times call for desperate measures.

I'd be completely okay with a private company establishing such a thing above-ground too. Catch me urgently sick enough and I'll totally pay the money to leave Metro to use a pay toilet just outside. I honestly don't care who was just in there shooting up or blowing a Congressman. I just don't want to have to piss, shit or puke on the platform, thanks.

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@chrisunwired · 695 weeks ago

WORD! And let's have them accept credit cards... I don't want to have to hunt down quarters while doing the pee-pee dance.

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@VeggieTart · 695 weeks ago

How about allowing people to use their SmarTrip cards to access the bathroom? No hunting down money while doing the "I have to pee dance". And the bathroom hopefully pays for itself.

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anon · 694 weeks ago

Oh, but then you'd need to have an allocation for bathroom facilities to go along with your transit and parking allocations on SmarTrip cards...

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DC Denizen · 695 weeks ago

I don't know how much it costs... I've never used it. But here's a laughable WP article about it from 2003, when it was a pilot program. It calls the toilet "self-cleaning" (from what I can see, it's straight up nasty) and it calls the other locked bathrooms "Spacious, clean, and well-stocked." Ha ha ha ha ha ha!!!!

But seriously- here you go.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/ac2/wp-dyn?pagename...

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RGG · 695 weeks ago

It doesn't cost anything to use it. Metro had that thing installed several years ago, on the Huntington Avenue side, as an experiment ($109K if I remember correctly). I believe it actually has a timer that will flash a warning light at you and open the doors withing a certain amount of time, so watch what you're doing!

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@cssvt · 695 weeks ago

It doesn't cost anything and it's not "always out of order." It was out of order for about 2-3 weeks back in August/Sept. but in the 6 months I've been using that station that's the only time I can think that it's been out of order. I've used it many times and wish they'd install them at every station entrance.

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guest · 695 weeks ago

So glad someone posted about this. I have Chrons disease, and frequently have had to ask to use the bathrooms at Metro. I'd say it's a 50-50 proposition as to whether or not the station manager will let me.

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Adam L · 695 weeks ago

I don't agree with WMATA policy. Letting customers use the restroom should not be up to the station manager, it should be banned entirely, no exceptions. It's obvious that the bathrooms are not meant for the public and are not maintained on any sort of schedule that would allow them to be used as such.

When you start to allow some people to use the bathroom it does two things: creates an expectation that the bathrooms will be available because they were before, and sets up Metro for claims of discrimination when young drunk kids are allowed to puke all over the bathroom but homeless people, for example, probably wouldn't be allowed entry during a similar "emergency." But once you let some people use the facilities, Metro will have to allow all people to do so.

14 replies · active 695 weeks ago

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John · 695 weeks ago

You'd rather have young drunk kids puking all over the trains and platforms?

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Adam L · 695 weeks ago

I'd rather have them puking in the bar they just came from, on the street (preferably into a drain), in their friend's car, or not at all. I don't think a transit agency should develop its policies around the "needs" of drunk kids.

But this entire post simply serves to prove my point. Do people complain to the Department of Transportation when they are stuck in traffic and really need to go? Metro made the mistake of letting some people use the bathrooms and now everybody thinks that they should get to use them. If Metro never installed bathrooms (or never let anyone use them in the first place) we wouldn't be having this discussion. Should we install public bathrooms on buses so people don't puke/piss on them? They already seem to have quite a problem with people using them as toilets as it is.

I want Metro to use its limited funds to get its shit fixed, not to provide restrooms for drunks and the bladder-challenged.

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@chrisunwired · 695 weeks ago

If it cuts down on the number of "sick customer" delays WHY NOT!? Also, the DOT DOES provide restrooms - they're called Rest Areas. If you're stuck in traffic in your car you still have more options than on Metro to relieve yourself - in whatever way that may be. You can pull over to the shoulder or get off on the next exit and find a restroom. What guy hasn't pulled over and jumped into the woods for a quick pee on a long road trip?

Metro just doesn't consider basic human needs or function in their priorities. No bottled water in the summer, no restrooms, and certainly safety is questionable.

We're not JUST talking about drunk kids here. What would you tell the person above with Chrons? Stay at home?

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Adam L · 695 weeks ago

Rest areas aren't much help if you're stuck in traffic away from the nearest exit. But in general, I agree. People have options. Like, I dunno, leaving the Metro and going to the ubiquitous Cosis or Starbucks? If you can hold it in the car, I can't imagine you can't hold it long enough to get out of Metro station.

What would you tell the person who rides any other transit system in this country that doesn't provide bathrooms? Get over it.

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@chrisunwired · 695 weeks ago

There's a Starbucks at Pentagon station? And it's open at 1:30 AM Saturday morning? Sweet - please reply with the address.

Also, I'm not talking about other transit systems. I'm talking about Metro. This isn't UnSuckAmerica, it's UnSuckDCMetro.

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RGG · 695 weeks ago

Sounds like you're blaming Metro for your drinking problem.

Somehow Metro, and the riders using it, survived since its inception before Metro started allowing riders to use the restrooms on a regular basis. In the pre-Richard White days you could use the restroom----in an emergency. The person with Chrons disease would have likely been allowed to use it. Now it's a free-for-all in a system that wasn't designed for it. That's why you only see ONE urinal and ONE toilet in the men's room and ONE toilet in the women's room. They were designed for employee use only. Maybe you should consider holding your drinking, if you can't hold "it." You're blaming Metro for _your_ problem.

I can't WAIT until you're caught wizzing in a rail car, because that's frankly---DISGUSTING--and get that nice CRIMINAL citation from the officer. You can then explain, one day, to a potential employer about your criminal record for "Urinating in Public."

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John · 695 weeks ago

Oh, so now everyone who has to use the bathroom late at night has a drinking problem? Your logic gets sillier by the minute, RGG, I mean Adam L......

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RGG · 695 weeks ago

Not everyone--just him.

His post above:
"I've had a HORRIBLE experience with the station manager at Pentagon. We had been in DC drinking and was on the second-to-last train of the night coming home. I made it across the bridge before I felt I would burst. Instead of peeing in the rail car (as others often do) we stopped at Pentagon and politely asked the station manager to use the restroom."

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John · 695 weeks ago

Actually, the person above asked if there's a starbucks at the pentagon station, open at 1:30 in the morning. Because above you said people can just go into a starbucks or a cosi if they need to use the bathroom. Late at night (some people work late nights, not just drink) a lot of these places wont be open. Add to the fact that some stations, especially those in the burbs, don't have any restaurants that would have facilities nearby to begin with.

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RGG · 695 weeks ago

He did---but he also said what I quoted. I said nothing about Starbucks.

Not sure why you think Adam L. and I are the same person--I assure you, we aren't.

If you work late, I guess you'd better "go" before you go. People seemed to do fine in the "pre-potty" era of Metro, and there are a LOT more outlets to "go" now than there were then. If Metro would quit catering to the "party-ers" so much it wouldn't matter what anyone does at 1:30 am. Metro would be CLOSED!

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John · 695 weeks ago

Yeah! Great idea! Leave the system, and enter the system again and have to pay double! Your ideas just keep getting better! What about commuting late at night when the ubiquitous Cosis or Starbucks are closed? What then?

The point is the facilities have rest rooms, and people should be able to use them. There are transit systems in this world that have restrooms. It isn't rocket science.

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RGG · 695 weeks ago

There _are_ transit systems in the world with public restrooms--they were designed that way. Metro wasn't.

It's stupid to have to rely on a station manager, who is (well, at least sometimes) occupied with other tasks, to have to cross the station mezzanine to unlock a door for someone to "go" rather than a rider be able to help himself. If you've ever seen the National Harbor bus pull up at Branch Avenue--everybody has to "go!" If I was a female station manager, hell if I'd want to be working, alone, at Minnesota Avenue, and be forced to leave my locked kiosk at midnight to let some drunk take a leak. It isn't safe. Until/unless Metro installs a kiosk-controlled unlocking system, with cameras monitoring the corridor, the restrooms should be off-limits.

I know for a fact that people have been found dead in the restrooms--syringe still in arm, and of station managers catching "hookers" in the restroom getting "taken care of" by their clients. The current set-up is NOT designed for the public and is STUPID! Metro had an opportunity to shut the restrooms down with all of the many "threats" over the years but chose to do nothing. As a safety issue, it makes NO sense to allow anyone in those corridors, unmonitored, to do as they may. Hell, the doors are secured by a deadbolt in many of them! No one, less the Fire Department, can even get in to check on people's welfare if they don't respond to a knock on the door. STUPID!!!

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John · 695 weeks ago

"and of station managers catching "hookers" in the restroom getting "taken care of" by their clients."

In some cases, the station managers are running prostitution rings, so.....

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Vienna bound · 695 weeks ago

What about the pregnant woman who is trying to stave off morning sickness to avoid puking anywhere in the subway system? Short of regulating who may (healthy individuals that can climb nonfunctioning escalator steps) and may not (drunk, disorderly, pregnant, physically challenged, or otherwise impaired) use the metro system, restroom accomodations seem minor. Not everyone who uses the system will use the restroom. Providing this accomdation, when requested, seems humane.

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· 695 weeks ago

I agree. One way or the other. No access or full access. Decide Metro.

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Amy · 695 weeks ago

Hmm...maybe the restroom situation is the real reason Metro doesn't even want customers to drink bottled water within the system. If your customers are dehydrated, fewer of them will ask to use the restroom in the first place...

On the serious side, I was dismayed to see that expectant mothers were not included on the list of legitimate accommodations. The teacher in me is all too aware of the dilemma of making too many exceptions, but the thought of being stuck in the system during a major delay with no access to facilities--unless I exit and reenter--is one more reason I won't be riding until after the baby arrives.

3 replies · active 695 weeks ago

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RGG · 695 weeks ago

No Amy, the _real_ reason regarding drinking bottled water in the system is because it's ILLEGAL. The laws prohibit consuming drinks--without exception. The laws need to be addressed to allow water if that's what is desired, but as it stands now, the police can't legally differentiate between water and...coffee or soda, for enforcement. How is an officer supposed to warn, or ticket, a person for drinking one of those over-priced Starbucks foamy thingys when the person next to him/her is chugging from a jug of water?

Metro did that "water allowed" thing this summer when it was especially hot. They actually allowed people to break the law. I'm not sure how they have the authority to do that. Same with "Bike on Rail." Metro changed the policy, but the LAW stands on the books. Stupid management.

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Amy · 695 weeks ago

It was a JOKE--if not a particularly funny one.. Did you see the "On the serious side" that started off the second paragraph?

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RGG · 695 weeks ago

Sorry, missed it! I just had thoughts of the whole "water allowed" discussion from last year on this blog. And on a side note....who just turned on the wind tunnel outside??!! Man, has it gotten windy out there!! Here's hoping all of my leaves blow into my neighbors' yards!!

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hrh king friday 13 · 695 weeks ago

I like to hold it until I reach a Metro parking lot and then I look for the first illegally parked car with a Metro jersey on the dash then piss all over the door hanlde.

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anon · 695 weeks ago

Last year I had the flu, and was sick to my stomach. I exited the train car, and made for the nearest trash can. A station manager came down to see if I was ok, and then offered the restroom to wash up. I wasn't expecting him to do it - nor would I expect it in the future. I appreciated the kindness, but I don't see access to a bathroom in the Metro system as a right. The last thing Metro needs to manage -- and we riders need to finance -- is a system of subterranean public toilets.

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ANONYMOUS · 695 weeks ago

Okay, for all you out there who think people are whining when asking to use the bathroom... I've used several (and been denied several)... TRUST ME if you don't HAVE to use one, you don't- if someone asks... it's an emergency situation (and I have had a burst bladder before- not pleasant and can kill you). Metro should not deny people the use of facilities when asked, but there is no reason to advertise them! For those that complain about the condition of the restroom and want to complain about it- perhaps they were not in an emergency. I always use the restroom before getting to Metro, and my trip averages 30min. Often, especially at night or on the weekend, my trip can turn into a 2 hour affair- so if Metro fixed their delays, quit closing stations and forcing people to wait for shuttle buses all the time, I'm sure bathrooms would be less of an issue. However, when they don't post the next train and you're waiting on the platform for well over 1/2 hour and the station manager refuses to tell you when the next train is coming (is it worth it to find a bathroom topside... I've had to walk 15min to find one, too- already in extreme pain) or wait and hope and risk a TRUE medical emergency...

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Curious George · 695 weeks ago

Use the spur tracks. That is what they are for.

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@ChrisHowdy · 695 weeks ago

Had the station manager at L'Enfant (7th and MD entrance) very graciously allow me to use the facilities when I had a 17-minute transfer to the next Vienna-bound train late on a Saturday a few months ago. Fortunately to have never really had another emergency in the 12+ years I've been riding Metro.

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anon · 694 weeks ago

One way to combat the safety issue might be to install those anti-rape strips you find in college-dorm bathrooms and such, the ones that run parallel to the floor, on the wall. Touch them and a loud alarm goes off. Ok, so this could be ripe for abuse of some kind, true, but it could also be a good deterrent for those who would try to commit crimes in there - except of course for the willing crimes like drug dealing, prostitution, etc.

Point being, you don't have to have an escort to use a public bathroom. I don't require one to use the john at Safeway, after all.

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Brian · 694 weeks ago

I think their current policy, maybe with some modifications, is fine. I've been in NY and some stations there do have public restrooms, like the one by Citi Field which has very large public restrooms. However, I also went in a restroom in a corridor at the station closest to the Port Authority bus station, and I swear I felt so sorry for the poor soul who had to clean what I saw. I don't want to see that in our system.

On a related note, I read a while back that all of the new Silver Line stations will have public restrooms. I believe there will be four single-user restrooms at each station. There was some debate when this was announced, because the design of some stations has the restrooms located outside the paid area of the station.

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anon · 694 weeks ago

To whomever is suggesting that people exit the system and avail themselves of facilities in other businesses, etc... a lot of the time, those places won't let you use their bathroom unless you're buying something. So bear that in mind.