NYC Rolls Out 17 High-Tech Public Bathrooms With 10-Minute Limit and Automatic-Opening Doors

Mayor Zohran Mamdani’s $4 million pilot aims to tackle New York City’s restroom shortage, while an unusual 10-minute rule is drawing attention to how the new facilities will operate.

New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani has begun rolling out a $4 million pilot program that will place 17 free modular public bathrooms at high-traffic locations across all five boroughs.

The one-year initiative was first announced in January, and the New York City Economic Development Corporation later selected Throne Labs through a competitive process to install, operate and maintain the units.

Each restroom is designed to be ADA-accessible, fully touchless and free to use, with a flushing toilet, running-water sink, climate control and a baby-changing station inside.

The bathrooms will operate daily from 7 a.m. until 10 p.m., giving residents, delivery workers, parents, tourists and other pedestrians access to facilities in areas where dependable restrooms are scarce.

Unlike conventional permanent facilities, the modular units are self-contained and do not require direct connections to municipal water, sewer or electrical infrastructure, allowing them to be moved when community needs change.

Users can unlock a restroom through a text message, QR code, the Throne Bathroom Network app or a tap card that local community partners are expected to distribute.

One feature has drawn particular attention: every visit is limited to 10 minutes, and the system uses signs, audio messages, music and flashing lights to warn occupants as time runs down.

Throne Labs says a user receives a reminder at five minutes and another at eight minutes, when the system explains that the visit is nearing its end and the door will open.

At the 10-minute mark, flashing lights and bilingual audio announce that time has expired, followed by a short buffer of roughly 30 seconds before the restroom door automatically opens.

Company officials said the automatic-opening feature is intended both to discourage extended occupancy and to improve safety by allowing access when someone inside may be experiencing a medical emergency.

Mamdani summarized the time-limit policy by telling reporters that the units are not places for people to sit and scroll on their phones after they have finished using the restroom.

The city says Throne Labs will clean and service the bathrooms, using usage information and real-time feedback to identify problems and prioritize units that need maintenance or additional attention.

Officials said each unit is generally expected to receive human cleaning after about 10 to 15 uses, an operational feature they argue is central to keeping the facilities usable.

The first 17 locations include sites near Yankee Stadium, Cooper Square, Columbus Park, Northern Boulevard and the North Shore Esplanade, spreading the pilot across every New York City borough.

City officials describe the program as a response to a longstanding restroom shortage, with Mamdani citing an estimate of roughly one public toilet for every 8,500 New Yorkers.

At the press conference, reporters also questioned how people without smartphones or reliable service, including unhoused New Yorkers, would enter the units if they could not use digital access methods.

In response, officials said community organizations near the bathroom locations will distribute reusable tap cards, providing an alternative way to enter the facilities without using a personal smartphone.

The administration says the pilot will generate information about demand, cleanliness, maintenance and user behavior, which officials can use when deciding whether to expand the network after the trial.

City officials say easier restroom access could particularly benefit older adults, parents, people with disabilities and workers who spend long hours moving between jobs, deliveries or other locations.

For now, the project remains a limited one-year experiment: 17 units, fixed operating hours and a closely watched 10-minute rule that will test whether modular bathrooms can work at larger scale.