Stadium Toilet Ratios Come into Play
Apr 15, 2009
According to a recent story in the New York Times, female baseball fans can get some bathroom relief faster and easier than ever when visiting the new Yankee Stadium and the Met’s Citi Field, where restroom plans are being instituted to save on the wait times of so many women during the ball game.
Roughly 1,500 new toilets and urinals await fans at the two ballparks, which is about a 30 percent increase at Yankee Stadium and a 10 percent increase at Citi Field.
According to the New York Times article, studies show that women take about twice as long as men in the restroom. The reasons vary, but the problem still remains the same: women need more bathrooms to avoid longer wait times.
Groups including the American Restroom Association and the World Toilet Organization view quick access to clean public toilets as a serious public health issue. People with medical problems, including bladder or bowel dysfunction, may not be able to wait. Long waits can also complicate other issues, including urinary-tract infections, making the trip to the restroom more of a hassle than a relief.
To combat these issues, New York City has passed several laws requiring a higher ratio of female bathrooms to male bathrooms in newly constructed or renovated public areas. More often than not, outdated buildings are tailored to male bathroom visits more so than female, so the update will be a much needed change – especially since many of the city’s codes were based off of requirements set in 1968. In 2003 and 2005, the city decided it was time for change and instituted new guidelines for building departments handling the installation of public toilets. Now, these laws will apply firsthand with the opening of the new stadiums.
We wonder how they’ll solve the need for more toilet paper.
i just wished more places would keep them clean!!
It’s about time. Toilet ratios are important but cleanliness is right up there too. I am a pretty patient person but there are others that can’t wait due to bladder issues etc. Well can’t wait to see a game, and of course experience one of your new bathrooms. Cheers!
What I want to know is where they store all the toilet paper? I can’t imagine what that storage facility looks like. Maybe USC’s facilities should take a hint from NY, because those are the absolute worst!
Thats good news and I wish we can get same thing
on other facilities in NY.
I think it’s great that stadiums are considering adding more bathrooms, but do we really need to be passing laws about bathrooms? Sometimes I think politicians have their priorities mixed up.
Wait a second… there is an American Restroom Association? AND a World Toilet Organization? That means that its acronym WTO is the same as World Trade Organization? Let’s hope there’s not any mix-up…
It’s good to hear about the repair of toilet guidelines, regardless. It’s about time.
I agree with DUI too, the USC’s toilets are abominable *hello fellow Los Angeles toilet user.
This is great news! For big venues like stadiums these, you have to have bathrooms that accommodate for all the people you wish to sell tickets to. No one ever wants to miss an exciting part of a game that they paid to see, simply because the bathroom line is way too long.
I want to know who is on those committees and study groups observing bathroom habits?
But I’ve always enjoyed the dirty looks from women as we men saunter in and out of the bathrooms at the ballpark as they wait for ever! J/K ladies!
When I have to wait in line it is brutal!