Posted: June 2nd, 2008 - 7:49pm by Doug Powell

In our continuing spotlight on public toilets, USA Today reports that cities are increasingly placing self-cleaning, automated public toilets in high-pedestrian-traffic areas.

Mary Ann Racin, founder of thebathroomdiaries.com, a website that rates more than 12,000 public restrooms worldwide, said Los Angeles, San Francisco, Boston, New York, Pittsburgh, Atlanta and San Antonio are some of the cities that have automated public toilets (APTs), with most in the past five years.

Atlanta was the most recent to add them, in March, paying $300,000 for each of the five units and signing a two-year maintenance agreement for $1.5 million.

With the push of a button, and the drop of a quarter depending on the city, the automated door opens, and a sanitized toilet awaits. After the user is finished, the system cleans the toilet and is ready for the next user.

Not all cities are happy: Seattle has moved away from its program after a report prepared by the City Council said the APTs became a haven for drug use, drug deals and prostitution.

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