The MTA will begin reopening its bathrooms in January | Catch My Job

Photo: Kristina Blokhin/Alami Stock Photo

The MTA is finally reopening its public restrooms that have been closed since the start of the pandemic. (Remember when the agency accidentally listed them as open earlier this year?) Streetsblog reported Monday that the plan to reopen the bathrooms will begin in January, starting at Yankee Stadium, Union Square, Jay Street–MetroTech, Flushing–Main Street, Fulton Street and three as yet unnamed additional stops. That’s eight bathrooms for 3.8 million weekday drivers.

The key to unlocking that beautiful bathroom door was apparently a staff question. The MTA recently hired 800 union cleaners, which the agency says has allowed it to begin opening 133 restrooms across its system. It has also hired private security as part of its anti-fare evasion efforts, but the MTA will also monitor bathrooms for toilet-related threats. (Okay.) “They could be available, for example, if a customer walked into the bathroom and saw something inappropriate, so that a security officer could get the NYPD or otherwise assist the customer,” president New told Streetsblog. York City Transit’s Richard Davey.

“We’re absolutely completely obsessed and focused on customer satisfaction,” Davey said of efforts to restore the restrooms, which he said would ideally all be open “at some point.” It’s the kind of focus that only a rider looking for somewhere to pee can match.