Philadelphia premieres new public bathrooms

State of play: The city opened its second stand-alone loo, named Philly Phlush, at the corner of 15th and Arch Streets on Tuesday, while another was installed in North Philly's Fotterall Square in June.

• Nearly $657,000 is being spent on six restrooms.

The big picture: Philly lags behind other U.S. cities in public bathroom access. The Portland Loo — the design Philly has adopted — is used in dozens of cities as a way to deter criminal activity, alleviate disturbances to local business, and address sanitation issues, per the company's website.

• Yes, but: The facilities have had mixed success, with some removed due to crime and maintenance issues.

Between the lines: In deciding the restroom locations, Philly looked at placing them near parts of the city with higher rates of homelessness and substance abuse to help provide harm reduction interventions.

• The sites provide containers, needles and packages of the overdose-reversing nasal spray naloxone.

Mike stopped by the Center City bathroom to see why everyone's making such a big stink about this.

First impression: The structure is a gray, prison-like pod that's not particularly inviting. (But maybe that's the point?)

Flush with options: Besides a toilet, the inside of the bathroom includes a baby changing table, toilet seat covers, hand sanitizer and free menstrual products.

• Plus: The facility is well ventilated, has a skylight and coat hooks.

Meanwhile, a hand-washing and drying station is located on the outside of the structure.

Zoom in: The loos are cleaned every two hours or so by a trio of city workers.

The intrigue: Can Philly have nice things?

• Whether the bathrooms can be well maintained or attract trouble remains to be seen.

Hours: The bathrooms are locked each night as the city doesn’t have enough staff to keep them open 24 hours a day.

• Center City's facility is open Monday through Friday, 8am to 10pm; weekends from 8am to 11pm.
• The North Philly restroom is open Monday through Friday, 10am to 9pm; weekends from 10am to 10pm.

What they're saying: "It looks better than a port-a-potty," Erica Cusick of Germantown told Axios as she was standing outside the new loo.

What to watch: West Philly is expected to get a public restroom in the fall, but the locations of that facility and the other three have yet to be determined, a city spokesperson tells Axios.