That practically ensures that some people who have to go really badly, and for whom €0.50 is a big deal, will just drop their business on the sidewalk.
The only place in France I have seen this happen was Paris and public toilets are free there. I haven't seen paid toilets at all in France for a long time, actually. Maybe in train stations though.
I've seen paid toilets in train stations (last month in le Mans, a few years ago in a corner of Montparnasse station, though that was before the last round of renovation) and in a mall (CNIT in la Defense). Some RATP train stations have public toilets that you can access with your train ticket, so it's not quite free.
I was just in Paris and I never had to pay for the public sidewalk toilets. Where did you see paid ones? I didn't get to all the arrondisements, so I'm curious.
That makes sense; I didn't spend any time in the 14th. I did notice a big difference in public bathroom availability based on arrondisement, but all the ones I saw/used were free. (The ones that weren't closed or out of order, that is...)
I was in Nice as well and found one place that had a public urinal(my back was literally to people walking around). It was a bit odd...but I really had to go.
My town in the US has something like this. Several portable toilet trailers that are typically stationed near public gathering areas all year round, and moved to accommodate large events. They're significantly nicer than porta potties, and are about on par with any public bathroom accessed from outside. They require the ability to either scan a QR code, or send/receive SMS. They've always been clean any time I've used them, and have some mechanisms to report cleanliness issues back to toilet HQ.
- Ask the attendant.
- Explain the problem.
- Someone behind you gives you fifty cents.
- Attendant waves you in.
- Come back and pay later.
- Someone nearby helps.
