“I love the smell of urine in the early morning. » This is what many Parisians could say to themselves while parodying the film Apocalypse now on certain days of the year. Anyone who has taken the metro or walked along the banks of the Seine the day after a music festival, New Year’s Eve or quite simply on a Sunday morning knows what it’s about.
Too often, the capital is accused (not necessarily wrongly) of offering acrid odors of ammonia. Party, overcrowding or bad education, the reasons for this bad behavior are multiple, especially since it is not always easy, depending on the time or place where you are, to find public toilets. The question should be raised all the more as Paris expects, for the 2024 Olympic Games, more than 15 million additional bladders. Enough to transform the Olympics and the capital into real festival toilets? Not so sure.
40% of bathrooms renewed and equipped with urinals for the Olympics
Basically, the capital is rather well equipped with public toilets with 435 JC Decaux toilets to which must be added more than 300 urinals and toilets. Which corresponds to a little more than one toilet per 3,000 inhabitants. This is not too much to “absorb” the 15 million passages recorded every year, according to Paris City Hall. But perhaps not enough to prevent traffic jams in front of the toilets during the Olympic Games.
Fortunately, queues may move more quickly before long. In fact, since last March, Paris City Hall has launched a program to replace toilets in the capital. First good point, they will all be equipped with a urinal, compared to only 50 of them currently. “It kind of doubles the number of toilets available,” explains 20 minutes Antoine Guillou, deputy to Anne Hidalgo in charge of the cleanliness of public spaces and sanitation.
More ecologically virtuous (water and electricity consumption reduced by two thirds and one third respectively), these new models should also limit waiting times by three according to the elected official thanks to a new cleaning system faster which would limit the wait to 30 seconds. Those accustomed to nervous stomping in front of the toilet door will appreciate it.
1,400 toilets installed along the Seine for the opening ceremony
“The program started in March. Between now and the Olympic Games, 150 toilet stalls will be replaced, at a rate of ten per week, or a little less than 40% of the park,” specifies Antoine Guillou, who confides that the most tourist sites have priority. The rest of the park will be replaced gradually from September.
Although it will only last a few hours, the opening ceremony of the Games will be long enough to become torture for small bladders. This is why an exceptional system will be put in place for the occasion. On the six kilometers of the banks of the Seine concerned, the town hall will have nearly 1,400 facilities (900 cabins and 500 urinals) for non-VIP spectators who will not be able to benefit from the structures planned by the Olympic Organizing Committee. With more than 200,000 people expected at the party, it will still be better to take precautions.
Stations and businesses open their toilets for free
This can be by going to the offices as soon as you arrive at the station. Since the beginning of April, all people with a Navigo pass or an origin/destination magnetic ticket have had free access to the toilets of the six major Parisian stations (Montparnasse, Gare de Lyon, Gare du Nord and Gare de the East, Saint-Lazare, Austerlitz) and two Franciliennes (TGV stations of Marne-la-Vallée Chessy and Roissy-Charles-de-Gaulle). Although it is not specific to the Olympic Games, this measure should provide a little more choice to users during the competition.
A choice which should also extend from June 15 thanks to “ HERE Toilets “. In addition to geolocating all public toilets with their opening hours, this application, created by a Nantes start-up, Urban services, offers a network of traders ready to open the door of their toilets to passers-by. For a monthly fee (paid by Paris City Hall), between 80 and 100 traders in the capital will be willing to receive onlookers looking for a little corner for free. In addition, these businesses will offer free periodic protection to users of their toilets. A service which will be offered from June 15 to December 15, 2024 but which could, ultimately, be sustained over time.