As a middle aged woman who has lived with overactive bladder most of her life, I don’t know why it took me so long to discover this: an app that locates publicly available bathrooms for you.
Flush works on Android and iOS. I downloaded it and turned it on. It located some bathrooms near where I live and it’s accurate so far. Yes, there is a Starbucks and a Chicago Park Services field house nearby, plus a public library several blocks away, etc.
It turns out there are several such apps, so if you try Flush or Flushd or Bathroom Scout or any others, please tell me how well they work in the comments.
It’s criminal how few public, free-and-available-to-anyone toilets there are in American cities. We’re this rich damn country, but we’re downright hostile to anyone who doesn’t have their own physical, permanent home. Our continuous infliction of cruelty on those who spend most of their time in public places is clear in how few public toilets there are, how few benches and places to sit there are, and how the benches and places to sit that do exist are designed to not allow anyone over 3 feet tall lie down on them.
Chicago benches have this obnoxious bar across the middle so no one can lie down on them. It’s rude.
City planners and the entities that control construction are simply mean to people who need to rest in public places. That also makes life harder for people who need to sit more, such as the middle-aged and elderly who often have more difficulty standing. It’s one of the ways the U.S. sucks.
Anyway, we can take care of ourselves a little better with apps such as those that help us find bathrooms when we’re out.
You raise an extremely good point about the hostility toward the unhoused and others whose need access to public restrooms when out and about.
Yes, the word “hostile” is most appropriate.
I want to do a post with pictures of the beautiful but uncomfortable benches of Chicago, but I don’t want to give ideas to other city planners (maybe in other countries).