BART may provide relief for riders by reopening bathrooms

BART locked the loos at all of its stations after the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks, based on the suggestion of federal security officials.

BART officials, acting on a request from a number of BART directors, have been studying the possibility of reopening, and remodeling, the closed restrooms.

Instead of simply unlocking the closed restrooms, which sit in pairs behind tall, stainless-steel doors, BART is considering converting them into unisex facilities that are more open, more easily monitored and could discourage unsavory or illegal activities, ranging from graffiti to drug use to terrorism.

The so-called open-approach restrooms would use the existing one-person restrooms but would replace the tall solid doors with a semi-opaque door that has gaps at the top and bottom, and would relocate the sinks to an open area outside the toilet areas.

Most of the locked restroom doors bear signs and stickers, sometimes even police tape, marking the restrooms as off-limits and sometimes directing passengers to the nearest public facilities.

Alicia Trost, a BART spokeswoman, said the agency gets a lot of questions and complaints about the closed restrooms from passengers, many of whom blamed the feces and urine sometimes found in station entrances on the lack of BART bathrooms.

Reopening the restrooms would cost about $1 million a year, according to BART: $900,000 to hire six people to clean, monitor and repair the restrooms and about $100,000 to repair vandalism and remove needles and other drug paraphernalia.

BART Director John McPartland, who has worked extensively in emergency services, said the new designs would allow BART to provide public restrooms at all stations while ensuring their safety.