NearToilets – Airbnb of toilets, earn from toilets for rent
45 comments
·September 11, 2025dawnerd
esskay
Yep my closest one (despite being on the edge of a major city) shows as 8 miles away, in the middle of a field. When I open it up on Google maps its a derelict barn in the middle of private land with no roads. Meanwhile I can literally see a public toilet from the front door of my house in an outdoor shopping area over the other side of the road, and that's not on the map despite it existing there for at least 50 years.
lagniappe
I might be a country bumpkin but you can pee on a barn just fine, it's the fences you want to watch out for.
kerpal
That's always the issue with these directory indexer services which try to scrape lots of data. The quality is always questionable. If users actually adopt it you can have them report or fix the data based on consensus but users won't even bother if they find 1/3 of your listings are complete junk and your platform actually wastes time.
amelius
Are you sure that it is physically impossible to access those toilets?
Someone might have added them after a visit, not caring if it is actually allowed.
skeezyboy
either way, the data is crap
HarHarVeryFunny
School or college? Many colleges around me in NJ don't ask for ID - I used to often go work in the library, use cafe, etc.
crazygringo
I'm confused. The title does not describe the site at all.
The site is a database of public toilets, with leaderboards for people who help update the information.
I can't find anything on it about earning money from toilets or being an "AirBNB of toilets".
ndriscoll
It seems to be pulling from OpenStreetMap, and doesn't explicitly say that "community contributions" make their way back upstream (or direct people to go contribute to OSM), so I suspect they are not encouraging people to update the information, but instead are trying to bootstrap their own proprietary database.
OSM can have more data like gendered/non-gendered, accessibility, fee/non-fee, availability of changing stations, etc. and is actually free and open so makes more sense to use directly.
geodel
Perhaps it would be scheme like those Toilet service champions in Gentleman clubs in US. Guys handing napkins and mints to hassled bathroom visitors for couple of dollars.
1970-01-01
What was once satire is now reality:
https://theonion.com/new-e-toilet-to-revolutionize-online-sh...
parpfish
I remember lolling when the razor companies ACTUALLY went to five blades
https://theonion.com/fuck-everything-were-doing-five-blades-...
Joker_vD
The first blade shaves clean, the seconds shaves even cleaner... the 27th blade is polishing the jawbone.
amelius
Finally our smartphones can fulfill one of our most basic needs.
googlryas
iToilet, an app which directs you to the nearest decent toilet any where in the world, was also how Costanza made his millions(before losing it to madoff) in the seinfeld reboot that happened within the Curb Your Enthusiasm universe
proee
I am forever grateful to Starbucks in San Francisco for offering a public accessible restroom during an extreme bathroom emergency. For whatever reason, my body did not react well to "Vitamin Water" while riding on the BART. I think perhaps the crystalline fructose was the problem (Have never drank it since).
Bottom line, I barely made it out of the BART station and had maybe 30 seconds left until purse disaster. I hobbled across the street to a Starbucks and prayed with all my might that the door would not be locked or require some kind of access code. Thankfully it opened and I was relieved from what would have been a most embarrassing day.
the__alchemist
Note: there is a graveyard full of similar projects. I think this would be a great service if this takes off, but I hope they learn from prior art.
geodel
For a moment I thought there is a graveyard full of similar visitors
tdeck
Is there actually a rental system? I only see public toilets on the website.
soelost
As someone with IBS whose considered building this many times. Well done!
emsign
And the urinal stench after a week is a bonus.
pimlottc
This map widget is terrible. There is no information about each dot on the map screen, you have to click it and go to a new page (with a load spinner!) to see what it is. When you go back to the map, it resets to the original location and zoom level instead of where you had it when you clicked. You also can't zoom the map very far.
A map is useless if you can't quickly view and compare multiple locations. Basic information should be available on the map screen itself, ideally with different icons and/or colors, instant popup dialogs, etc. If you want to have additional detail on a separate page, that's fine, but you shouldn't have to leave the map to accomplish the main function of the site.
null
CjHuber
Just walk into a restaurant an ask nicely?
pavel_lishin
This depends wildly on where and who you are.
I have a young child, and that is an absolute free pass to nearly any bathroom anywhere. My kid is very cute and charismatic to boot, so I'm half certain I could make our way into Area 51 or the Vatican archives if we found ourselves with a full bladder.
hereaiham
Not all places and towns are so friendly. Many places love money so much that they'll say it's only for paying customers, not any customers.
skeezyboy
maybe one of those unpaying customers shat up the walls. you think im being facetious but its surprisingly common in the first world
stocksinsmocks
I thought you were being fecetious
SOLAR_FIELDS
Or is doing heroin/crack in the bathrooms, which is also more common than people might believe.
HarHarVeryFunny
Never seen that in a men's bathroom, but apparently women's can be vile.
the__alchemist
This is usually due to vagrants.
amelius
I did this once in Paris and they told me to pay 2 euros.
SOLAR_FIELDS
Not paying for bathrooms is a distinctly American thing in the Western world. For instance, the McDonalds I used to go to all the time in Sweden actually has a credit card reader on the door.
The story on why it is free is quite interesting, as it used to not be this way in America either: https://psmag.com/economics/dont-pay-toilets-america-bathroo...
HarHarVeryFunny
British slang for going to the toilet is (or used to be) to "spend a penny" since some public bathrooms required you to put a large pre-decimal penny to open the stall door lock.
komali2
I was genuinely shocked to follow signs to a WC in a Brussels train station and find a pay toilet. Stupid thing wouldn't take my CC so when nature calls... I stepped outside the station and was hit with a slap of piss stink. Makes sense! Added my own, what else am I to do?
I loved my time in Brussels but it really was gross how often I'd randomly smell piss.
OJFord
There are open air urinals in a lot of Europe, including Brussels, so as long as that's what you need (and you're male)... I imagine stations are just so high traffic that it's partly an attempt to limit demand, and partly to fund the almost continual cleaning necessary to prevent them being completely disgusting. Kings Cross is paid too for example (but not (London) Waterloo, curiously).
HarHarVeryFunny
In the US a fast food place or Starbucks is your best bet - easy to find and they don't care.
CuriouslyC
Wow. Shark jumped.
Trying it here and it is showing toilets inside of the public school that you can’t just stroll into. I’m not sure how the data is gathered, but that’s just wrong. Those are not public use at all.
I gave it my exact location and hit emergency and it put me pretty far from my actual gps.
Was this just a vibe coded project? Sure seems like it.
There’s existing apps like this though:
https://www.loofind.com/ https://www.toiletcodes.com/en https://toiletfinder.net/ https://www.toiletmap.org.uk/ https://toilet.place/