toilet fee vs free toilet

With much reluctance, I spent 10 cents for a trip to the toilet at a shopping mall today. There is a reason why I often patronise a particular fast food chain without eating any fast food.

A recent news report revealed that only 30% of the toilets in Singapore meet the 3-star standard, and some people's response to that is to have more paid toilets. C'mon, open your nostrils and sniff in, the paid toilets are smellier or the free ones? I can't guarantee you the free ones are always the cleanest, but the paid ones are definitely not.

I always have this belief that how developed a country is, is correlated with whether you need to pay to use their public toilet. It is a way of addressing and providing for people's basic need. Haven't you heard of people rather die than to shit or wet their pants? No names mentioned about backward countries still having paid public toilets, but last year's trip to China saw all the toilets I encountered having free entrance, compared to say a decade ago when the situation was a bit the other way round. And who says China has no human rights? (fine, they may not let you talk, but at least they let you pee freely). Now the toilets at our MRT stations are free, so are those in parks (while they may not be the nicest-smelling in the country). They used to be pay-per-entry, toilet paper sold separately.

Toilet is one infrastructure that cannot rely on public fundings of 10-20 cents alone.