Let’s Talk About Bathrooms

CHRISTY WEGENER
Executive Director
Livermore Amador Valley Transit Authority (Wheels)
Livermore, CA

We talk a lot about many things in transit. We talk a lot about driver safety, resiliency of our systems, ways to build ridership, fiscal hills and cliffs. But we don’t talk much about driver basic needs and amenities in the field. Things like bathroom access, or the lack thereof.

The men and women who operate our services are in the field 9-10 hours per day, sometimes on runs that are two hours in one direction. Without reliable access to restrooms, drivers will do what they need to do for their bio health, including taking extended breaks at terminal locations to access nearby facilities—or, perhaps worse, stopping in-route at fast food restaurants or gas stations to use the loo. There is also a gender difference with restroom access. I’m sorry guys, but sometimes, it’s just way easier for you to “figure it out.” Women don’t have that luxury.

Understanding the importance of bathroom access was really heightened when I started working at SamTrans on the south San Francisco peninsula. The service area was large and there often wasn’t enough layover time in the field. After many conversations with SF operator Muni, we came to an agreement that allowed SamTrans drivers to utilize the Muni driver restrooms at the Daly City BART Station. It took a lot of conversations and a heck of a lot of keys, but we did it, and it was impactful.

At Wheels, we have some long runs. We have good driver restroom access on the eastern end of our service area, but not much on the western end at our BART commuter rail hub, and I wanted to do something about it.

Earlier this year, the LAVTA Board of Directors approved a one-year pilot with Throne Labs for a self-contained driver restroom at the BART Station. Our new restroom will be installed this summer in close proximity to the bays at the end of the bus platform—accessible only to Wheels and partner operator drivers.

It was important to clearly articulate to the public and our board of directors why restroom access was an issue for us, so I went to the BART station and did the walk from the bus platform to the public restroom, which is located behind the BART fare gates. Roundtrip, it took me seven minutes and was 0.4 miles. With only 10 minutes average recovery time at this station, bringing a restroom closer will mean comfort for our workforce and improved on-time performance.

I’m excited for the ribbon cutting—it will make for an interesting photo-op. And for those of us with unlimited restroom access during the day, remember your restroom privilege.

Flush on!