PRESS RELEASE: San Francisco Expands Successful Pit Stop Public Toilet Program - 6/15/16

For immediate release: June 15, 2016

Contact: Rachel Gordon, Public Works, 415-554-6045

SAN FRANCISCO EXPANDS SUCCESSFUL PIT STOP PUBLIC TOILET PROGRAM

New facilities open in the Haight and SoMa neighborhoods

SAN FRANCISCO, CA – Public Works opened two more Pit Stop locations today, continuing the expansion of the innovative public toilet program.

The new portable facilities are located on Haight Street and Buena Vista Avenue West near Buena Vista Park and on Stevenson Street and Duboce Avenue near the SoMa West Skate Park.

Their addition now brings the number of Pit Stop locations to 13, serving the Tenderloin, Mission, SoMa, Civic Center, Mid-Market, Castro and Haight neighborhoods. Another two Pit Stops will open in the Bayview at Third and Palou streets and in SoMa at Minna and Ninth streets within the next month.

The Pit Stop program provides public toilets, sinks, used needle receptacles and dog waste stations in San Francisco's most impacted neighborhoods – providing a place for people to take care of their bathroom needs with dignity, improving neighborhood livability and reducing demands on Public Works staff to clean up human waste from the City’s sidewalks, doorways and streets.

The key to the Pit Stop’s success is that all the facilities are staffed by paid attendants who help ensure that the toilets are well maintained and used for their intended purpose.

”The more Pit Stops we open, the more places people have a safe, secure and clean place to go,” said San Francisco Public Works Director Mohammed Nuru, who spearheaded the program that began as a pilot with three locations in the Tenderloin in July 2014.

“Since the Pit Stop began – with the strong support of Mayor Lee and the Board of Supervisors – we have seen a steady increase in usage and a reduction in steam cleaning requests,” Nuru said.

Combined, the toilets now are used nearly 20,000 times a month.

San Francisco partners with the nonprofit Hunters Point Family to staff the Pit Stops in 12 locations. The nonprofit group Taking It to the Streets staffs the Pit Stop on the eastern edge of Golden Gate Park at Stanyan and Waller streets.

The program utilizes both portable toilets, which are trucked to the sites on the days of operation after overnight servicing off site, and the semi-permanent JCDecaux toilets.

The program has served as a national model, with a Pit Stop opening in downtown Miami last year, and one set to open in Sacramento this summer.

The Pit Stops that opened today in the Haight and SoMa will operate Monday through Friday, 2 p.m. to 9 p.m. More information on the Pit Stop program can be found at www.sfpublicworks.org/pitstop.

About San Francisco Public Works: The 24/7 City agency cleans and resurfaces streets; plants and nurtures City-maintained street trees; designs, constructs and maintains City-owned facilities; inspects streets and sidewalks; builds curb ramps; eradicates graffiti; partners with neighborhoods; trains people for jobs; greens the right of way; and educates our communities.