When you’re in a city and you feel the urge to go to the bathroom, you’ve got a couple of options: you can either use a public restroom, go to a bar where you pay for a drink and then use the toilet, or you can choose not to go at all. In France, a free app is now trying to change things around.
ICI Toilettes (HERE toilets), as the app is called, first launched in the French city of Nantes in 2022. Start-up Urban Services wanted to make it easier for people to find a free restroom while also increasing the number of available pit stops by getting bars and restaurants to sign up and make their bathrooms available for free.
“Holding back a desire is always risky from a health point of view and, in many cases, impossible. For fear of not finding clean and accessible places, some people limit their movements in town centers (pregnant women, the elderly, disabled or sick people…)”, ICI Toilettes founder Thomas Herquin told French media outlet Konbini.
In return for the merchant’s efforts, some cities are currently working together with the start-up in order to provide them with hygienic kits and to reimburse their fees, such as water and toilet paper. During the Olympics, such an agreement existed in Paris and, although that agreement was set to end on 15 December, 60% of the business owners working with the app wanted to prolong the collaboration.
Without the help of local officials, ICI Toilettes can’t afford to reimburse the merchants’ fees. The start-up is however still providing the affiliated business owners in Paris with hygienic kits in order to thank them for their efforts. According to the app, 70% of the businesses working with ICI Toilettes have seen a surge in their revenue stream since collaborating with them, as many restroom users end up buying something to eat or drink anyway.
Despite the success of the app, which has now been downloaded 100,000 times already, some previous collaborations have come to an end. Notably in Nantes, the home city of ICI Toilettes, local authorities have decided to no longer work together because of budget cuts. In Paris, the collaboration for the Olympics has also ended yet the start-up hopes to find a way to stay in the French Capital in the long run. The cities of Montreuil, Grenoble and Angoulême are currently still working together with ICI Toilettes and business owners thus get reimbursed for their fees.
