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NYC deploys robotoilets. The public bathrooms have a strict 10-minute time limit.
By
Liam Quigley
Published Sep 16, 2026
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Liam Quigley / Gothamist
By
Liam Quigley
Published Sep 16, 2026
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A suite of high-tech public restrooms has started to land in New York City as part of a push by the mayor’s office to make it easier for people to find a place to go while they’re on the go.
Mayor Zohran Mamdani on Wednesday announced the first two modular bathrooms the city ordered earlier this year from the company Throne Labs started to operate on city streets. The rest, a total of 17, are expected to come online in the coming months.
The robotoilets of tomorrow can be opened only by texting a number via a smartphone or by using special tap cards, which will be distributed by community partners.
Once inside, users are put on a strict 10-minute time limit. As an occupant approaches the limit, a speaker inside the room emits an automated message telling them they’re running out of time. Once the 10 minutes are up, the speaker states, “Attention: Your use time has expired. The door is opening now,” in English and Spanish, before the automated door slides open, exposing the user to the public.
If someone still refuses to leave the futuristic bathroom, workers for Throne Labs will get an alert to go check things out in person. Officials said the employees could call the police if someone holes up in the robotoilet.
The toilet of tomorrow has arrived in Brooklyn.
Liam Quigely / Gothamist
The toilets are equipped with free pad dispensers and have wallpaper featuring a lush array of plant life.
Supreena Bacon was among the first to use the facility on Fulton Street in Bedford-Stuyvesant, Brooklyn, on Wednesday.
“ It's clean. It's modern,” she said. “You don’t have to touch anything.”
"I hope people appreciate it," said Viviana Ceron.
“I hope people just enjoy and take care of it so we can, you know, as a neighbor, we can prove that we can have nice stuff around," Ceron said.
The restrooms, which are part of a $4 million pilot program, are cheaper to install than conventional public restrooms because they don’t hook up to the city’s sewer and water systems.
“Too many New Yorkers know what it’s like to have nowhere to go while they’re on the go,” Mamdani said on Wednesday. “This pilot is about making sure New Yorkers can count on a clean, safe, accessible bathroom when they need one.”
New York City has long struggled to provide enough public toilets for its residents. Officials estimate there are around 1,000 public bathrooms across the five boroughs.
The NYPD issued more than 10,000 summonses for public urination in 2025, according to the Coalition for the Homeless. Advocates with the group welcomed the new toilets, but warned that requiring a tap card or phone to open the restrooms could exclude the neediest New Yorkers.
“We are concerned that it raises several access issues for homeless New Yorkers,” the Free to Pee Coalition, led by VOCAL-NY and the Coalition for the Homeless, said in a statement. “Many may not have a smartphone or be able to easily obtain a physical tap card to open these restrooms. ... Modular bathrooms alone will not change the current imbalance in bathroom access.”
In the Bronx, the toilets will be installed outside Yankee Stadium, Admiral Farragut Playground, Mapes Park and Monsignor Raul Del Valle Square in the Bronx. Brooklyn's loos will be installed at Columbus Park, Milestone Park and Avenue C Plaza. In Queens, Astoria Boulevard and 31st Street, Northern Boulevard and 31st Street, Northern Boulevard and 54th Street, and 34th Avenue and 64th Street will get relief. Manhattanites will get commodes at Cooper Square, Malcolm X Plaza, Delancey Street and Suffolk Street, and Plaza Alianza Dominicana. Meanwhile, Staten Island’s lone robotoilet will be installed along the North Shore Esplanade.
The first of the toilets are already installed at Fulton Street and Truxton Street in Brooklyn, and at 34th Avenue and 64th Street in Queens. Workers will install the next two at Columbus Park in Brooklyn and at Northern Boulevard and 54th Street in Queens on Thursday.
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Liam Quigley
Liam Quigley is a reporter covering parks & sanitation for Gothamist and WNYC. Got a tip? Email [email protected]
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