This summary about the lack of public restrooms in NYC was featured in Documented’s Early Arrival newsletter. You can subscribe to receive it in your inbox three times per week here.
When nature calls, where do women rideshare drivers in New York City go?
Yan Li, a Chinese immigrant in her forties, has developed her own strategies while on the job: For number 1 and 2, she uses a bedpan and plastic bags, which she keeps in her car. When she’s done relieving herself, she wraps the bag tightly, and finds a bin to trash it. For menstruation, she started wearing an adult diaper — a solution that later proved to be ineffective.
Like Yan Li, most rideshare drivers in New York — 86%— are immigrants. Many of them are from the Dominican Republic, Haiti, Pakistan, India, and Bangladesh. But there’s a small number of women in the industry — just 24% of rideshare drivers are women. Although male drivers experience a similar challenge of lacking access to restrooms, relieving themselves is easier, one female driver told our reporters.
There aren’t enough public restrooms in NYC: And even so, many of the available ones are out of reach to workers, writes our reporters Yuning Li and Howard Liu in today’s story. There are only two 24/7 public restrooms in NYC.
Our reporters narrate the similar frustrations of these drivers: a source indicated how she almost wet her pants one day when she went to pick up food at a restaurant, which requested $2 to use their restroom. In other locations like hotels and malls, drivers struggle to find parking, and if they double park, are at risk of getting a ticket as high as $115 — more than half of Yan Li’s earnings on an average day.
The lack of access to bathrooms is a labor and safety issue: Workers have had to take on more night shifts, as that’s when they can find parking more easily, while others avoid drinking water during their shifts. In 2017, after a year of advocacy, rideshare drivers won portable restrooms at JFK airport, but unsanitary conditions made the solution ineffective.
Earlier this year, New York City passed legislation to install workplace protections for delivery workers, and it included better access to bathrooms. But many drivers do not know about the legislation or the specifics of it, and therefore are unaware about their rights. This suggests additional outreach may be needed.
Read the full report exclusively on Documented.
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