New Pit Stop Public Toilet Opens at 16th and Mission Streets

San Francisco, CA – San Francisco Public Works has opened its fifth Pit Stop public toilet location in the City, this one in the Mission District but with a twist.

The Pit Stops in the Tenderloin and South of Market use portable toilets that are set up each day of operation after overnight servicing. But the Mission Pit Stop utilizes the existing JCDecaux public bathroom located at 16th and Mission streets – only now it is staffed by an attendant, the same as the other Pit Stops.

“We have seen with our Pit Stops that having staff on site is the No. 1 reason the program works,” said Public Works Director Mohammed Nuru. “The attendants make sure the bathrooms are kept clean and safe and used for their intended purpose. Not only do the Pit Stops help keep San Francisco clean, but they provide a place where people can find relief with dignity.”

The Pit Stop public toilets are located in areas with a high volume of requests for Public Works to steam clean the sidewalks to remove human waste.

Public Works partners with the nonprofit San Francisco Clean City Coalition, which provides the staffing for the Pit Stops as part of a job-training program. The attendants are at the Mission District site Monday through Friday, 9 a.m. to 8 p.m.

JCDecaux, which is under contract with the City to operate 25 self-cleaning public toilets in San Francisco in exchange for advertising rights, stepped up to work with Public Works on the Mission Pit Stop. If the hybrid model works, it may be expanded to other JCDecaux toilets in San Francisco where on-site staffing could be beneficial.

“We are pleased to be working with the City on ways to improve the experience for people who use our public bathrooms,” said Francois Nion, who oversees JCDecaux’s western region in North America. “These public toilets are an asset for the people who need them and for the neighborhoods they serve.”

In addition to a toilet and sink, each Pit Stop location offers a used needle receptacle and a dog waste station with bags and a trash can.

The first three Pit Stops opened in the Tenderloin in July 2014 and a fourth location opened in the South of Market on Sixth Street in April. Since the program started, Public Works has seen the requests for steam cleaning services – largely related to human waste on the sidewalks – drop as the number of people using the staffed toilets goes up.