My parents are about to embark on a trip to Venice, and in their travel planning, they discovered that the Italian city has an online discount program for using public toilets.
Seriously, there is really such a thing as the toilet card, a daily or monthly pass to the city’s public loos, available through Venice Connected, the city’s official site.
Instead of paying the current 1 euro fee to get into a public bathroom, tourists who think ahead can get one week or day passes to the bathrooms online.
Visitors can pay 7 euros online for 10 toilet visits over 5 days in high season, and 5 euros in the low tourist season.
For a regular toilet card, bought at a bathroom or other site, the corresponding costs are 9 euros and 7 euros.
The online day rate for 2 visits is 1 euro in low season, 2 euros in the high season. Otherwise, the card costs 1.50 euros and 3 euros respectively.
[...]
The pass is another attempt by Venice, which hosts about 20 million visitors a year, to deal with tourists who use the streets as urinals.
The program has been available since February 1.
So: Is a toilet “subscription” a brilliant plan to manage public spaces? Or is it another way to bilk tourists of their hard-earned cash? (Notably, locals only pay 0.25 per use.) Hit the comments!
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September 28th, 2009 at 11:07 pm
It works for me! If I need to pay a little extra for a clean toilet, I’m all for it!
mp/m
September 28th, 2009 at 11:08 pm
I’m all for it! If I can get a clean toilet for a little pay, why not?
mp/m
September 29th, 2009 at 12:34 am
Twitter Comment
Introducing Toilet Subscription! [link to post] This is useful coz public bathrooms in Europe are too expensive! (via @upgradetravel)
– Posted using Chat Catcher
September 29th, 2009 at 4:29 am
Supercool. I am just doing MSc in toilet research, and it was news for me
September 29th, 2009 at 7:44 am
What would stop tourists from paying 0.25 per use?
Lack of change?
A special card?
Seems like a cash grab to me.
September 29th, 2009 at 7:49 am
As much as it bilks tourists, I’d pay it if I were headed there again. In Europe you get used to paying a nominal fee to use a toilet but the full Euro charge in Venice was really excessive… particularly last year when a Euro was close to 2 USD.
Venice is probably the only city I’d consider doing this. Other cities like Florence have many options of free public toilets, if you know where to look (department stores, bookstores, etc.)
September 29th, 2009 at 11:23 am
In Europe you customarily pay for the use of clean restrooms. If a tourist wants a safe clean public restroom and does not want to deal with always having the correct amount of euros to pay for a restroom break, the card is a nice way to hand this situation. At least Venice is giving a bit of a discount with the card.
September 29th, 2009 at 2:21 pm
I lived in Venice for a few years and I think this is the minimum they should do. Venice is a very fragile, delicate city that in high season is overrun with day-trippers and cruise ships who literally trash the place and contribute next to nothing towards cleaning up after them. They eat the cheapest take out, don’t stay in the hotels, buy fake masks or glass made in China rather than the masks or glass made by local artists and support the illegal street vendors by buying fake Prada and Fendi bags from them. Cleaning up after them is costly. I worked in a cafe in Piazza San Marco and the disgusting things I found in the bathroom would curl your toes. Venice is a tiny city with a tiny population that cannot afford to support the masses that enjoy her beauty. Very few Venetians actually profit from the tourists. I always thought the city should charge admission, like Disneyland, and waive the fee if you actually stay in a local hotel. It’s a beautiful, unique treasure and everyone who enjoys it should be happy to do their part to maintain it.
September 29th, 2009 at 3:53 pm
Camilla,
Does the money from the public toilets go to the preservation of the city?
And if they charge this much for public toilets, doesn’t that just create an incentive to piss in the canal? Shouldn’t they be ratcheting the price DOWN (to free?) to keep people from despoiling the place?
I think the “admission fee” a la Disneyland that you propose is a lot more sensible than small-change fees like this that could end up promoting the very bad behavior they’re designed to prevent.
September 29th, 2009 at 5:03 pm
So, soon, when I purchase my Eurail pass, I’ll be able to get a Eurpotty pass as well?
September 30th, 2009 at 1:14 am
What an excellent idea, Holocron!