Neartoilets – Airbnb of Toilets, Earn From Toilets for Rent
Posted4 months agoActive4 months ago
neartoilets.comTechstory
skepticalmixed
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60/100
ToiletsMappingCrowdsourcing
Key topics
Toilets
Mapping
Crowdsourcing
NearToilets is a website and app that maps public toilets, with plans to introduce a rental system, but the community is skeptical about its functionality and data accuracy.
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Sep 11, 2025 at 10:29 AM EDT
4 months ago
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ID: 45212141Type: storyLast synced: 11/20/2025, 8:52:00 PM
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I gave it my exact location and hit emergency and it put me pretty far from my actual gps.
Was this just a vibe coded project? Sure seems like it.
There’s existing apps like this though:
https://www.loofind.com/ https://www.toiletcodes.com/en https://toiletfinder.net/ https://www.toiletmap.org.uk/ https://toilet.place/
Someone might have added them after a visit, not caring if it is actually allowed.
In general, owning a gas station on a highway is far more profitable than owning it on a street.
Randomly recalls to me a core memory: adolescent me at my buddy's house. Fat nerd, anxious about everything. My buddy's older brother was playing warcraft 3 with us and I thought he was such a cool guy, he wore jean jackets always covered in paint. We finished a match and both said at the same time, "I gotta take a shit!" He said, "race you!" and ran to the closest bathroom, and I was relieved because the lock was broken on that one and I was super anxious to poop when someone might walk in, so I was happy to use the upstairs bathroom instead. I warned him that the lock was broken. "So what?" he said. "Well, what if someone walks in on you while your pooping?" I asked. He replied, "I'll say, 'Get out of here, I'm pooping!'"
I learned to actually think about my worries. My anxiety was ill defined - someone might walk in on me pooping! But in reality, that's just the whole ordeal, someone walks in and then leaves, you won't explode and die about it.
https://theonion.com/new-e-toilet-to-revolutionize-online-sh...
https://theonion.com/fuck-everything-were-doing-five-blades-...
I loved my time in Brussels but it really was gross how often I'd randomly smell piss.
I mean that's what I find hilarious about trying to do capitalism to toilets. People gonna poop and pee, there's literally nothing you can supply/demand about it. You can't do congestion pricing on a toilet, people will pee either way! You should just make it easy as possible to pee where you want them to pee, or they're gonna pee where you don't want them to pee.
I guess I shouldn't laugh, it exactly the same logic of trying to do capitalism around housing or feeding people...
The story on why it is free is quite interesting, as it used to not be this way in America either: https://psmag.com/economics/dont-pay-toilets-america-bathroo...
Many places are now putting codes on the restroom door that you have to ask for. Whether or not they'll give you the code before buying something varies a lot by location and likely by how much the employee gives a shit.
I have a young child, and that is an absolute free pass to nearly any bathroom anywhere. My kid is very cute and charismatic to boot, so I'm half certain I could make our way into Area 51 or the Vatican archives if we found ourselves with a full bladder.
The site is a database of public toilets, with leaderboards for people who help update the information.
I can't find anything on it about earning money from toilets or being an "AirBNB of toilets".
OSM can have more data like gendered/non-gendered, accessibility, fee/non-fee, availability of changing stations, etc. and is actually free and open so makes more sense to use directly.
Bottom line, I barely made it out of the BART station and had maybe 30 seconds left until purse disaster. I hobbled across the street to a Starbucks and prayed with all my might that the door would not be locked or require some kind of access code. Thankfully it opened and I was relieved from what would have been a most embarrassing day.
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Poop_Map
A map is useless if you can't quickly view and compare multiple locations. Basic information should be available on the map screen itself, ideally with different icons and/or colors, instant popup dialogs, etc. If you want to have additional detail on a separate page, that's fine, but you shouldn't have to leave the map to accomplish the main function of the site.