Something I've noticed in NYC which I haven't seen anywhere else are the public all gender bathrooms. Many restaurants have them, and most public spaces do too. The first time we ran into it we were in the Chelsea Market. This nice market has all kinds of interesting foods, and crafts (as well as a place known as the "Tuck Shop" where they serve Aussie Food. I'm from Australia originally so its AWESOME to get a meat pie or sausage roll or lamington immediately.
Anyway, we were walking past the bathroom and there was a long line. Everybody was in it. I always felt that it wasn't fair to in bars, there were two bathrooms. The guys' line was tiny. The womens' was huge. I started thinking of all kinds of ideas like if we time how much longer it takes a woman to go than a man, then we could just make that ratio MORE women's bathroom stalls than the mens, and then each gender would wait the same time (approximately).
But the same gender bathroom is a great solution. One line, and as long as you have enough bathrooms to service demand, I think you take up less room. Of course there are no more urinals, so perhaps mens' messiness could crop up. Although I wonder if the knowledge that this bathroom is shared might actually influence guys to a) put the seat down, or b) just be cleaner in general. It might just be that they service them more often. No sure how the system actually works, but I was glad to see an egalitarian method at work so wanted to mention it.
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