Generally, I'd have to say that, Hong Kong public toilets are OK. There's certainly plenty of them lol
I'll also say that public toilets over here in Queensland are pretty good in town, well maintained etc but also like the fact that, there's always toilet facilities by popular beaches, national parks that have free, electric shaded BBQ/picnic facilites, which for us having kids in toe, has been really excellent.
Having tried these conveniences around a good chunk of this world, mainland China has to be my worst experience. London yes I will say wasn't great either, the tube station toilets I tried were pretty on the nose. Never found toilets bad in the EU, even peeing in the exposed street urinals in Amsterdam, which I found very novel. they even have them nestled in the corners of buildings on busy streets so piss heads don't pee in your doorway! I've never seen that before.
HK needs toilets in all MTR stations, the way Japan has toilets in all its train stations. They can afford this...
Not true. Every MTR has a toilet if you ask a staff member. Several stations have toilets inside the paid areas that are open. AND they have a good website with the details.
MTR > Public Toilets in The Vicinity of MTR Stations
So those viral videos of Mainlanders defecating in trains or in stations are totally unnecessary.
Hong Kong has, I think, perhaps the world's best public toilets, whether run by the government or private (shopping malls). Office toilets on the other hand need some very serious improvement. And I don't doubt despite the abundance of free and for the most part pretty clean toilets (with toilet paper AND soap!) that the government bodies are disconnected and could benefit from some better cohesion -- just as with many other government services, like FEHD vs LCSD vs AFCD or HAD vs police vs Transport Department, yadayadayada...
To me, though, it's always been an enigma of Hong Kong -- why people can't use toilets properly, but yet they get the whole "public toilet" thing so right.
Last edited by Elegiaque; 27-02-2019 at 05:20 PM.
OK, I amend my statement to large, open public toilets in MTRs, equivalent to the ones in Japan- where it is right in the main section of the station, door is open, several stalls/urinals, etc. Not where I have to ask a staff member and they have to go unlock the staff toilet, etc. Also "near" the station doesn't count either.
The plumbing obviously exists, no reason not to spend some government surplus on this kind of public amenity given the very large volume of tourists, most of whom will be on the MTR at some point in their HK travels.
I know where to find toilets, I live here. Visitors, and ones with old people, little kids, drunk people, etc. may not know where to find toilets.
Can you imagine the work in retrofitting all the old stations in Tokyo to have toilets (they didn't always have them) in an earthquake zone no less where you need a lot of extras...
If the government is busy handing out money due to budget surpluses and also bringing in new sources of tourists with bridges, they can build more toilets.