King County to Sunset Public Restroom Program

King County Metro plans to remove two public restroom facilities at its transit centers, despite what The Urbanist’s Ryan Packer calls “promising results.”

As Packer explains, “Central Puget Sound has a dearth of public restrooms, particularly at transit facilities, with the few available often accessible for limited hours and many riders dependent on nearby private businesses for restroom access.” The six-month pilot was designed to explore options to expand restroom access.

“However, the pilot program’s high costs, mostly associated with providing 24-hour security to both transit centers to monitor the restrooms, will likely prove the biggest deterrent to making them permanent.” The program cost $568,567 to operate — with roughly 70 percent spent on security personnel.

Councilmember Rod Dembowski, who championed the project, said hiring 24/7 security may have been ‘overkill.’ Dembowski added, “There’s a long history in Seattle with struggling with public restrooms, they can be costly, difficult to maintain, but I think for the usability of our system and the riders, I think it’s something we ought to continue to work on.”