Brian wrote: 11 Jun 2026, 07:54
Do the trains have no toilets on board either?
None of the trains in this city have toilets on board. To use the bathroom, a passenger would need to hope that the station where they get off is one of the few stations that has a bathroom (and hope that it's open for use, and well-maintained.)
Fred wrote: 11 Jun 2026, 17:08
If these were subway trains, they probably have no onboard toilets, and even some local metro trains lack functioning facilities. Given that many cities have very few public rest rooms, it's not unlikely that a gent might be on his way home with a very full bladder, perhaps in hope that he could hold it that long - and then realized the he couldn't.
Telling this story reminded me of another one (relayed to me second-hand.) As I was parting ways with a young woman at a subway station downtown, she recalled the last time that she'd visited the bar where we'd just been, with another two friends (we were all in our early twenties then, working our first jobs.) The two guys had drunk a few beers and, caught up in the midst of conversation and generally enjoying themselves, forgotten to visit the restroom before closing their tab and leaving. They only realized they needed to pee once they were on the platform, waiting for the train. At this station the platforms are down three long flights of stairs from the turnstiles. So even though this station
does have restrooms, going all the way up the stairs and then back down to use them would have been totally inconvenient (not to mention, they were almost definitely closed by that time of night.) There's a control station at one end of the platform (usually unmanned) with a big metal chest outside of it, for storing tools used by the train workers. In the event, that corner provided some convenient privacy as they each took turns urinating in it, the other one watching their back for the approach of the train, or of any potential witnesses.
googlism2008 wrote: 12 Jun 2026, 18:26
Definitely there would be some commuters who despite having used the toilets before starting their journey, only to find themselves stuck within the paid zone of the train network with a desperately full bladder barely half an hour into their journey, but not willing to pay a second fare. What are they supposed to do?
There is another contributor to this forum who frequently relates his experience of taking public transport in Australia, where you may frequently see male passengers using the fences or the treelines as urinals, once leaving the platforms at train stations in the quiet, leafier suburbs. So for those valiant enough to hold it all the way through their journeys, there's the promise of sweet relief elsewhere! (At least by his telling, the locals seem not to have a problem with it.)