Feature: Tech comes to the rescue for people to answer nature's call
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E-mail Xinhua, October 11, 2020
WARSAW, Oct. 11 (Xinhua) -- Finding a toilet can be a hassel for people in a place they are not familiar with, especially for tourists in a foreign place. In Warsaw, an app has recently been launched, claiming to help people to do just that.
The app "AirPnP", which is short for poo and pee, was rolled out by NGO "Miasto Jest Nasze (The city is ours)", aiming at helping people find toilets when they need one.
"Each of us has basic physiological needs, but not everyone can find a toilet that is near or clean enough. However, now you don't have to worry about it anymore," AirPnP advertised on its website.
By using the app, people can find nearby bathrooms with reviews on their cleanliness. Users of the app may also choose to share their toilets, for a fee.
The concept of sharing bathrooms sounds attractive, but the app later turned out to be a stunt, as "Miasto Jest Nasze", a movement which campaigns to improve the life for Warsaw residents, later admitted that the so-called bathroom sharing app is meant to bring up the reality of lack of public toilets in the city and shed light on the aged infrastructure in the Polish capital.
According to estimates by the Warsaw Municipality, there are about 400 public toilets in the city, meaning an average of one per 4,300 residents, not counting the millions of visitors, which amounted to over 10 million last year, according to the Warsaw tourism office.
Statistics from the online public toilet finder Pee.Place indicated that cities with populations of similar size to Warsaw might face similar urge. There are 390 public toilets in Vienna and 169 in Budapest. In Prague, which has a little smaller population, there are 243 toilets.
The difficulty in the search for public toilets seems to be universal. That is why as early as 2014, the app "Airpnp" was released for users to lease out their bathrooms. Now, apps catering to similar needs are mushrooming. "Where is the restrooms" claims to have information on over 280,000 public toilets worldwide, including more than 19,000 in Australia. There are also "Toilet Quest", "Bathroom Scout", or "Flush", to name only a few.
And the hunt for toilets is still ongoing... Enditem
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