Pit Stop Public Toilet Program

LOCATIONS AND HOURS

You can find Pit Stops in 30 locations around San Francisco.

MAP

Bayview-Hunters Point
Mendell Plaza –  7am to 7pm

Castro
Market and Castro streets (JCDecaux) – Daily – 8am to 8pm​

Civic Center
Grove and Larkin streets (JCDecaux) - Daily – 7am to 7pm​

The Embarcadero
Embarcadero Plaza (JCDecaux) - Daily – 9am to 5pm

Haight ​
Stanyan and Waller streets (JCDecaux) – Daily – 7am to 7pm
Buena Vista Ave. and Haight St. – Daily – 12pm to 7pm

Lower Polk
Myrtle and Larkin streets (JCDecaux) – Daily – 8am to 8pm

Mid-Market
Hallidie Plaza  (JCDecaux) – Daily – 7am to 7pm
U.N. Plaza  (JCDecaux) – Open 24 hours
Market Street, between Hyde and 7th streets – Daily – 10am to 5pm

Mission
16th and Mission streets (JCDecaux) – Open 24 hours
24th and Mission streets (JCDecaux) – 7am to 7pm
344 14th St. – Daily – 9am to 5pm
3100 26th St. – Daily – 7am to 7pm
SFGH, near SE corner of Building 25 – Daily – 7am to 6pm
SFGH, near SE corner of Building 80/90 – Daily – 7am to 6pm
15th and Julian – Daily – 7am to 3pm
Franklin Square Park in the parking lot adjacent to 300 Hampshire St.  – Daily – 10am to 10pm

North Beach
Washington Square at Union St. (JCDecaux) – Daily – 9am to 5pm

Ocean Beach
Great Highway near Beach Chalet – Daily – 11am to 6pm

Outer Sunset
Judah and La Playa streets (Rec Park) – Daily – 8am to 8pm

SoMa​​
6th and Natoma streets – Daily – 7am to 7pm
Victoria Manalo Draves Park (Rec Park) – Daily – 9am to 5pm

Tenderloin​
Turk and Hyde streets – Open 24 hours
Turk and Taylor streets – Daily – 9am to 9pm
Eddy and Jones streets (JCDecaux) – Daily – 8am to 8pm
388 Ellis St. – Open 24 hours
Eddy and Larkin streets – Daily – 6pm to 6am
474 O’Farrell St. – Open 24 hours
701 Ellis St. (at Larkin) – Daily – 7am to 7pm

THE PIT STOP STORY

San Francisco Public Works’ pioneering Pit Stop program provides clean and safe public toilets, as well as used-needle receptacles and dog waste stations, in San Francisco's most impacted neighborhoods. All the Pit Stop facilities are staffed by paid attendants who help ensure that the bathrooms are well maintained and used for their intended purpose.

The units have running water, soap and hand towels, and are maintained to a standard where parents and guardians would feel comfortable bringing their children.

The program began in San Francisco’s Tenderloin in 2014 at three sites, sparked by a plea from neighborhood middle schoolers who were fed up with having to carefully navigate around human waste on their walk to school. Today, the Pit Stop operates at 33 sites in 13 neighborhoods. Street-cleaning data drives the locations of the Pit Stops, putting them where they’re needed most.

The popular program, which was recognized by Harvard Kennedy School for innovation and serves as a national model deployed by other cities, provides an alternative to using our streets and sidewalks as a toilet.

The result:

• People can take care of their bathroom needs with dignity
• Neighborhoods are made more livable
• Complaints about human waste in public spaces around the Pit Stop locations have gone down, which allows Public Works public cleaning crews to focus more attention on other hotspots.

 Public Works manages the Pit Stop program. Nonprofit grantees, Mission Hiring Hall and Hunters Point Family, staff them.

WATCH

Public Works TV - A Next-Generation Public Toilet - Episode 71
Public Works TV - SF's new approach to public toilets - Episode 7

IN THE NEWS

4/7/2023 - Once Upon a Project (podcast) - Revitalizing San Francisco One Toilet Kiosk at a Time
3/22/2023 - New York Times - Why Are Public Restrooms Still So Rare?
11/31/2022 - In the Works - Reflecting a Community Need: San Francisco Unveils New Public Toilets
11/23/2022 - Press Release - San Francisco Public Works Launches New JCDecaux Public Toilet at Embarcadero Plaza
4/7/2020 - Press Release - Mayor London Breed Announces Rollout of New Staffed Public Toilets and Hand-Washing Stations in High-Need Neighborhoods
11/27/2019 - SF Chronicle - Editorial: Tackling San Francisco’s poop problem for good
9/25/2019 - SF Chronicle - SF’s 24-hour public bathrooms show promise in keeping feces off streets
6/19/2019 - SF Examiner - SF Public Works to test 24-hour public bathroom in the Tenderloin
5/31/2019 - SF Curbed - SF pledges $8.6 million for more toilets
12/30/2018 - SF Chronicle - Reformed prisoners give back, save lives by monitoring SF’s public restrooms
4/19/2018 - SF Chronicle - SF Tenderloin toilet monitor honored for life-saving actions
3/5/2018 - SF Gate - Pit Stop Public Toilet Program Expands To Lower Polk Neighborhood
3/5/2018 - S.F. Weekly - S.F. Slowly Expands Pit Stop Toilet Program
3/5/2018 - Press Release - Pit Stop Public Toilet Program Expands to Ninth Neighborhood
11/22/2017 - NPR - Just Look At These Fancy Port-A-Potties
11/21/2017 - LA Times - Posh 'Painted Lady' portable toilets roll onto San Francisco streets
11/20/2017 - Hoodline - 'Painted Lady' Pit Stop Portable Toilet Debuts In Upper Haight
11/20/2017 - ABC 7 - San Francisco marking World Toilet Day with 'Painted Lady Pit Stop' potties
11/20/2017 - Press Release - Public Works Rolls Out New 'Painted Lady' Public Toilet
11/20/2017 - Curbed SF - Take a seat inside new ‘Painted Ladies’-style toilets
11/20/2017 - KTVU - San Francisco's ‘Painted Lady' pit stops debut on World Toilet Day
11/20/2017 - SF Chronicle - SF’s newest rolling toilets are an homage to the Painted Ladies
11/20/2017 - NBC Bay Area - 'Painted Lady' Portable Restroom to Be Unveiled in San Francisco
6/15/2016 - Press Release - San Francisco Expands Successful Pit Stop Public Toilet Program
9/2/2015 - ABC 7 - City hires workers to patrol public potties on San Francisco streets
9/1/2015 - SF Chronicle - City’s latrine team tries to keep public toilets tolerable
8/22/2015 - SF Chronicle - Amid rising disgust, S.F. scrambles to flush stench from streets
6/30/2015 - KQED News - If You Build It, They Will Go: Sparkling New Street Toilet Arrives in the Mission
6/22/2015 - Hoodline - Two Months In, Pit Stop Pilot Program In SoMa Is Going Strong
6/3/2015 - NBC Bay Area - Public Toilets in the Mission Staffed With Bathroom Attendants
6/3/2015 - SF Bay - ‘Pit Stop’ restroom opens at 16th and Mission
6/3/2015 - Press Release - New Pit Stop Public Toilet Opens at 16th and Mission Streets
5/21/2015 - Capp Street Crap - What a relief! City working to boost bathroom options near 16th and Mission
4/21/2015 - Press Release - Successful Public Toilet Program Expands to the South of Market
4/11/2015 - Bend Bulletin - Toilets on wheels help keep Bay Area neighborhood clean
4/8/2015 - The Petrelis Files - Pit Stop Toilet Coming to BART's 16th Street Plaza
4/8/2015 - ABC News - Toilets on Wheels Help Keep San Francisco Neighborhood Clean
4/8/2015 - Fox News - Solar-powered portable toilets on wheels helping to keep San Francisco neighborhood clean
1/27/2015 - Press Release - Supervisors Vote to Extend and Expand Public Toilet Project
1/27/2015 - LA Times - San Francisco port-a-potty program offers homeless privacy, normality
1/15/2015 - CBS Local - SF Gets More Than $203,000 To Solve Longtime Problem Of Human Feces On Streets
1/15/2015 - SF Examiner - Money secured to extend public toilet program in Tenderloin, SoMa