Key Facts
- New York City is installing 17 modular, touchless public bathrooms across all five boroughs in a one-year pilot led by Mayor Zohran Mamdani.
- The city’s $4 million agreement with Throne Labs includes free, ADA-accessible units with flushing toilets, sinks, climate control and baby-changing stations.
- The bathrooms will generally operate daily from 7 a.m. to 10 p.m. and impose a 10-minute limit per visit; warnings begin at five and eight minutes before the door opens automatically.
- The first units opened in Brooklyn and Queens, with additional installations planned near Yankee Stadium, Cooper Square, Astoria, Staten Island’s North Shore and other high-traffic locations.
- Users can unlock the bathrooms by text message, QR code, the Throne Bathroom Network app or tap cards distributed through local community partners.
NEW YORK — New York City has begun deploying a network of high-tech public bathrooms, quickly dubbed “robotoilets”, across the five boroughs, a $4 million experiment aimed at addressing one of the city’s most persistent quality-of-life problems: finding a clean, free place to use the restroom.
Mayor Zohran Mamdani announced this week that the first two modular bathrooms built by Throne Labs had begun operating in Brooklyn and Queens. Fifteen additional units are expected to be installed in the coming months at parks, plazas, transit-adjacent corridors and other high-traffic sites.
The bathrooms are free, touchless, climate-controlled and accessible to people with disabilities. They include flushing toilets, running-water sinks and baby-changing stations. But the system comes with a strict condition: users have 10 minutes inside before the unit begins a timed sequence that ultimately opens the door automatically.
The city says the timer is intended to keep the bathrooms available, prevent prolonged occupation and support regular cleaning. Critics and advocates for unhoused New Yorkers say the rule raises questions about privacy, accessibility and whether people without smartphones will be able to use the facilities easily.
The pilot is part of a broader push to expand public-restroom access in a city of more than 8 million residents, millions of commuters and tens of millions of annual visitors. It also represents a test of whether modular, technology-enabled units can succeed where traditional public toilets have often been expensive, slow to build and difficult to maintain.
A public bathroom shortage
For many New Yorkers, the challenge is familiar.
A person can spend hours walking, working, commuting, shopping or visiting public spaces and still struggle to find a restroom that is open, free and available to the public. Cafes and restaurants often reserve facilities for customers. Park bathrooms may be closed seasonally or outside limited hours. Transit stations frequently lack restrooms. Libraries and other public buildings have restricted access or limited schedules.
The city has more than 1,100 public restrooms, according to reporting on the new initiative. But access remains uneven, especially in commercial corridors, dense pedestrian areas, nightlife districts, transportation hubs and neighborhoods with fewer public facilities.
The new pilot aims to fill some of those gaps.
Mamdani’s administration is placing the 17 units in high-traffic locations across all five boroughs. The facilities are intended to serve commuters, families, older adults, people with medical needs, delivery workers, tourists and residents who may spend long periods away from home.
“This is about the basic dignity of being able to use the bathroom when you need to,” the policy’s logic suggests. Public-restroom access is often treated as a minor urban amenity, but it affects public health, mobility, economic activity and who can comfortably use city streets.
A parent with a young child, an elderly person, a person with a chronic illness or a delivery worker on a long shift may experience the lack of a restroom not as an inconvenience but as a barrier to moving through the city.
What the robotoilets are
The units are manufactured and operated by Throne Labs, a company that describes its system as a network of modular, digitally managed public bathrooms.
They are not permanent brick-and-mortar structures. The bathrooms are designed as standalone units that can be installed more quickly than conventional facilities and can operate without major new construction.
Each unit includes:
- A flushing toilet.
- A running-water sink.
- Fully touchless fixtures.
- Climate control.
- ADA accessibility.
- A baby-changing station.
- Digital entry and monitoring systems.
The units are intended to be more durable and easier to manage than portable toilets while requiring less time and capital than building a traditional public restroom.
The city’s pilot costs $4 million for one year. Mamdani said the combined cost of the 17 bathrooms is approximately what the city has sometimes spent building a single conventional public restroom.
That comparison is central to the program’s appeal.
Traditional restrooms can require lengthy design, permitting, construction, utility work and maintenance planning. A modular unit can be delivered and activated more quickly. If the pilot works, it could give the city a more flexible way to add facilities in places where a permanent building would be difficult or expensive.
But the long-term question remains: Can a technology-dependent bathroom network provide reliable, equitable access at city scale?
The 10-minute rule
The most talked-about feature is the 10-minute time limit.
After a user enters, the bathroom begins a countdown. Throne Labs says the unit provides warnings at the five-minute and eight-minute marks. If the person remains inside after 10 minutes, flashing lights activate and the door opens automatically.
The company and city have presented the rule as a way to prevent extended use and make the bathrooms available to more people.
The goal is understandable. Public bathrooms can become unavailable when a single person occupies a stall for a long time. Extended occupancy can also make cleaning, maintenance and safety monitoring more difficult.
But the policy has generated concern.
Ten minutes may be sufficient for many users. It may not be sufficient for everyone, particularly people with mobility limitations, digestive conditions, chronic illnesses, menstrual needs, caregiving responsibilities, young children or medical emergencies.
The city says the units are ADA-accessible, but accessibility involves more than doorway width and physical space. It also includes time, privacy and the ability to use a facility without fear that a timer will override personal needs.
The automatic-opening feature has drawn the most criticism because it could expose a user before they are ready to leave. The city and Throne Labs have not publicly explained every technical safeguard, such as whether staff can intervene remotely, whether the timer can be extended for emergencies or how the system handles accessibility needs.
The practical test will come after broader use.
A well-designed public facility must balance turnover and safety with dignity. If users repeatedly experience the timer as humiliating or inflexible, the system could undermine the trust it is meant to build.
How to access the bathrooms
The bathroom units do not use a conventional public-key system.
Instead, people can gain entry through one of several digital or contactless methods:
- Sending a text message.
- Scanning a QR code.
- Using the Throne Bathroom Network app.
- Tapping a physical access card distributed by local community partners.
The multiple options are intended to make entry quick while allowing the system to track occupancy and prevent misuse.
But the system raises an important equity question: What happens to people who do not have smartphones, reliable mobile service, data plans or familiarity with QR codes?
The Free to Pee Coalition, led by VOCAL-NY and the Coalition for the Homeless, has warned that people without smartphones or tap cards could be excluded.
That concern is significant in a city where public restroom access is particularly important for people experiencing homelessness, older adults, people with disabilities and low-income residents who may have limited access to digital tools.
The physical tap cards are meant to address part of the problem. Community organizations will distribute them to people who need an alternative to smartphone access. But the program’s success will depend on how widely the cards are available, whether people know where to get them and whether the access process works reliably.
A public restroom cannot be fully public if entry depends on technology that some users do not have.
Where the bathrooms are going
The 17 units are planned across all five boroughs.
The first operational units are located at Fulton Street and Truxton Street in Brooklyn and at 34th Avenue and 64th Street in Queens.
Additional locations announced by the city include:
| Borough | Planned locations |
|---|---|
| Bronx | Yankee Stadium, Admiral Farragut Playground, Mapes Park, Monsignor Raul Del Valle Square |
| Brooklyn | Columbus Park, Milestone Park, Fulton Street and Truxton Street, Avenue C Plaza |
| Queens | Astoria Boulevard South and 31st Street, Northern Boulevard and 31st Street, Northern Boulevard and 54th Street, 34th Avenue and 64th Street |
| Manhattan | Cooper Square, Malcolm X Plaza, Delancey Street and Suffolk Street, Plaza Alianza Dominicana |
| Staten Island | North Shore Esplanade |
The location strategy reflects a mix of commercial, recreational, transit-adjacent and neighborhood sites.
Near Yankee Stadium, the facility may serve sports fans, transit riders, vendors and workers. At Cooper Square and Delancey Street, it may serve pedestrians, tourists, residents and people moving through major downtown corridors. In Queens, the sites near Astoria and Northern Boulevard are located in dense commercial and transportation areas.
The city is not claiming that 17 bathrooms will solve the broader access problem. The pilot is small compared with the size of New York City. But it is meant to test a model that could be expanded if usage, maintenance and public response are favorable.
A new approach to a long-running problem
New York City has tried multiple approaches to public bathrooms over the years.
Traditional park restrooms, public-library facilities, privately operated bathrooms, restaurant requirements and temporary portable toilets all play a role. But no single system has consistently met the needs of a large, dense city with wide differences in neighborhood infrastructure.
Automated public toilets have also appeared in cities around the world. They promise lower maintenance and more predictable access, but they often face challenges involving vandalism, malfunctions, sanitation, safety and public acceptance.
New York’s robotoilet pilot adds a digital layer.
The units are not simply automated fixtures. They are networked facilities with app-based entry, timed access, remote monitoring and a company-operated management model. That approach may make it easier to track usage and identify maintenance needs. It may also make the facilities more dependent on software, phone connectivity and vendor performance.
The city’s one-year contract creates a period for evaluation.
Officials will need to examine:
- How many people use the bathrooms.
- Whether the units remain clean and functional.
- How often doors, sinks, toilets or access systems malfunction.
- Whether the 10-minute rule causes complaints or safety problems.
- Whether people without smartphones can access the units.
- How often cleaning and maintenance are required.
- Whether nearby businesses, residents and community groups support the sites.
- Whether the cost compares favorably with traditional facilities.
The answers will determine whether the project is expanded, modified or allowed to expire.
Public health, dignity and city life
The larger debate is not only about technology. It is about what cities owe people in public space.
Public bathrooms are basic infrastructure, much like benches, drinking fountains, streetlights, transit shelters and sidewalks. Their absence affects who can comfortably spend time in public.
When restrooms are unavailable, people may avoid parks, reduce time outdoors, decline transit trips, leave commercial areas early or face humiliating situations. Workers who spend their days driving, delivering food, cleaning buildings or performing outdoor labor may struggle to find a place to go.
The issue is also tied to homelessness. Cities often struggle to provide humane restroom access for unhoused residents while also managing concerns about safety, drug use and long-term occupation of facilities.
The 10-minute limit appears designed partly to address those concerns. But advocates argue that access policies should not treat people in crisis as a reason to make public facilities harder for everyone to use.
The most effective system may require more than hardware. It may require trained maintenance staff, social-service connections, clear cleaning schedules, community partnerships and a willingness to build more facilities rather than simply restrict use of the few that exist.
The cost question
At $4 million for 17 units over one year, the pilot costs roughly $235,000 per bathroom if divided evenly. That figure includes more than the physical toilet: it covers the vendor contract, installation, operations, technology, maintenance and support systems.
Critics may see that as expensive for a single-user bathroom. Supporters will argue that the relevant comparison is not the cost of a household toilet but the cost of planning, building and maintaining public infrastructure in one of the country’s most expensive cities.
Mamdani has argued that the pilot’s total cost is comparable to what the city has paid for one traditional restroom.
The true value will depend on usage and reliability.
If a unit serves hundreds of people a day, remains clean and reduces pressure on businesses and public facilities, the cost per use could become defensible. If the units are frequently out of service, difficult to access or unpopular because of privacy concerns, the pilot will be harder to justify.
Public infrastructure often looks costly when measured by individual units. Its value is broader: convenience, hygiene, tourism, mobility, equity and the ability to use public space without spending money.
What happens next
The first units are operating, and more installations are expected in the months ahead.
The bathrooms will be open daily from 7 a.m. to 10 p.m. during the one-year pilot.ny1+1
The most important early questions will be practical:
- Do the access systems work?
- Are the bathrooms clean?
- How quickly are problems repaired?
- How do users respond to the timer?
- Can people without smartphones get tap cards easily?
- Are the units genuinely accessible to people with disabilities?
- Does the city collect and publish usage and maintenance data?
- Will the program expand after the first year?
The robotoilets may become a modest but useful improvement in a city where public restroom access is often scarce. Or they may reveal the limits of technology-first solutions to a basic human need.
For now, they offer New Yorkers a new option, one that is free, touchless and climate-controlled, but timed down to the minute.