Rali, a driver for Uber Eats who asked to go by her first name for privacy, says, “Going to gas station bathrooms you never really know what’s happening in there. Sometimes I would rather just hold it.”
She adds, “There are times where it was just extremely uncomfortable…and I would literally have to shut off deliveries and find somewhere to go.”
Rali is typically on the road 9 to 10 hours a day and makes roughly $25 to $35 an hour before expenses. But lack of access to restroom facilities can come with a price.
She says, “I would have to shut off for at least 30 to 45 minutes and, you know, take care of business before I was technically able to go back to work.”
Public restrooms are not easy to find in most places in America, and New Jersey is among the hardest places to find them. The state is ranked 43rd in the nation for how easy it is to find safe, clean public bathrooms, according to a 2025 study by Tena, a global hygiene and health company. The impacts range from mild inconvenience to health hazards.
Parks, libraries, transit hubs, gas stations, and even restaurants and bars are often the places people look when they need to go. As a result, these organizations, whether funded privately or with tax dollars, take on the costs associated with keeping restrooms clean, stocked, and safe.
Jessica Durrie, the owner of Small World Coffee, agrees but adds that, “Maintenance, cleaning, and repairs are constant and costly. Supplies and paper goods add up quickly, and our staff spends significant time keeping them clean throughout the day, it is difficult to keep up because they are almost always in use.” She adds, “I’ve never calculated the annual expense, but it’s definitely not insignificant. Restrooms are an important service to the public, but they require ongoing investment and attention.”
The costs associated with restrooms are, indeed, high. According to a 2025 article by Christopher Mims in The Wall Street Journal, some cities, such as Washington, D.C., Detroit, and Los Angeles, have opted for a private pay model for public restrooms. The Throne, a pay-per-use system, allows users to enter using an app or a card, while most people have to pay. In some cases, service providers can give cards to those in need.
Philadelphia’s Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) has gone the public funding route. In 2023 they launched the Philly Flush, which is a publicly funded program. These stand alone models are maintained regularly by a team hired by HHS and easy to find. But relying on municipal funding makes the program precarious to political pressures.
While lack of access to bathrooms affects everyone, some groups are particularly affected, such as delivery drivers like Rali.
A recent New York Times article reported that the New York City Council “announced a plan to nearly double the number of public facilities by 2035. The expansion is expected to be particularly helpful to those experiencing homelessness, as well as to the city’s approximately 80,000 delivery workers.”
But while cities like Washington and New York are working to expand access to public bathrooms, they remain limited in most New Jersey towns.
This inevitably leads to public urination, and violations of local ordinances can result in fines up to $500 and even jail time, which hits vulnerable populations like delivery drivers and unhoused people the hardest.
In a recent interview, one local who does not have access to housing and asked to remain anonymous because of the associated stigma summed up the frustration, saying, “As far as the homeless and the bathroom situation…put some porta potties out here, man.”
CORRECTION: An earlier draft of this article provided an inaccurate quote regarding bathroom usage at the Princeton Record Exchange. The article was updated to remove the erroneous content on December 13, 2025.
