Mayor Zohran Mamdani and City Council Speaker Julie Menin announced Saturday an initiative to install more public bathrooms across the city.

The two signed a letter of support for an RFP, or Request for Proposals, to fund a $4 million pilot program that would bring 20 to 30 “high-quality, modular public restrooms” to the five boroughs.

What You Need To Know

  • Mayor Zohran Mamdani and City Council Speaker Julie Menin announced Saturday an initiative to install more public bathrooms across the city

  • The two signed a letter of support for an RFP, or Request for Proposals, to fund a $4 million pilot program that would bring 20 to 30 “high-quality, modular public restrooms” to the five boroughs

  • The bathrooms would be self-cleaning, limited to 15 minutes of use and have maintenance performed twice a day, Mamdani said
  • Currently, there are nearly 1,000 public restrooms in the city, or about one per 8,500 New Yorkers, and other major cities across the country and the world have more public restrooms per capita than New York

The bathrooms would be self-cleaning, limited to 15 minutes of use and have maintenance performed twice a day, Mamdani said.

“In a city that has everything, the one thing that is often impossible to find is a public bathroom,” he said. “In the greatest city in the world, you should not have to spend $9 to buy a coffee just to be able to find a little relief.”

Mamdani said the plan is for the RFP to be issued within the first 100 days of his administration, with the timeline for installation to be laid out afterward. 

He said that since the toilets don’t need to be connected to the city’s sewer line, they can be installed faster and cheaper.

In the short term, an automatic public toilet will soon be up and running at the site of his and Menin’s announcement in Harlem, near 12th Avenue and St. Clair Place.

Currently, there are nearly 1,000 public restrooms in the city, or about one per 8,500 New Yorkers, Mamdani said. 

Other major cities across the country and the world have more public restrooms per capita than New York, he and Menin noted.