Peequal is the name of a porta-potty system designed by, and specifically for, women. UK-based college buddies Amber Probyn and Hazel McShane, who worked at music festivals together during summers, became fed up with the long lines for women's bathrooms. The wait times, the duo say, can be "up to 34 times longer than men's."
I’m not sure this is that well thought out. I am not a woman, but I have known many women who have joked together that depending on outfits, they sometimes need to almost completely get undressed to go to the bathroom, and since its open air and you can see across the top, it may lead to even more privacy concerns.
How do you quickly find out if it is occupied??? There is no indication besides walking in each stall…
I literally made an account just to comment on this. This is a squat toilet. You invented something that already exists and made a porta potty version of it. It’s not even as useful as an actual squat toilet, because those allow for more waste than just urine.
Privacy concerns aside, these seem wildly inaccessible. I’m disabled, and while not needing a handicap stall, there’s no way in hell I could comfortably and consistently use those.
As an alternative, might I suggest, stp (stand to pee) devices? You can buy disposable ones in bulk or reusable ones made from things like plastic or silicone. There’s a massive variety created by both the transgender community and camping/hiking/ect hobbyists. I use them, and after a quick learning curve, they’re incredibly easy to use and I’d bet they’re faster than that thing. You could provide disposable stps alongside more traditional urinals like toilet paper at regular toilets. I’m willing to bet that would be more effective at cutting down line time than this, although I do think it’s good to have a variety of bathroom options, this just doesn’t do a good job at fulfilling it’s intended purpose
Look I’m not a woman but this seems dystopian. The problem isn’t the design of urinals, it’s the amount provided specifically for women, and the design of women’s clothes. This removes privacy and comfort for absolute speed. The only clever thing is the shape but I frankly don’t think it’s much different.
In a wheelchair is another reason to avoid the festivals if, getting there wasn’t the only obstacles. Another design pushing us out of inclusiveness.
Yes ADA is critical but I think the design could be expanded to have one of the petals expand for a curtain. If another module that could shunt the waste to a neighboring tank it could be lower to ground to make the transfer from chair to receptacle. I’m trying to think if any of the porta-potties are truly ADA. I’m not sure they could be beyond grab bars. How does one get from the chair onto the receptacle with dignity?
This is great! Not perfect but none of the complaints above are unfixable. The best way to design is to get it out there and see what works and what doesn’t. At least someone is working on this problem Which is way more that I’ve seen in decades of going to music festivals, ball games, etc. etc.
Firstly, let me congratulate you on tackling an interesting and challenging design problem. Others have pointed out the problems of inclusivity in the design so I won’t comment on that. I would be interested to see how prototype testing went. How much faster is it to use? As a man, I have always assumed that as the actual amount of time spent peeing is the same for men and women, the extra time must be in disrobing which is difficult for ID to design out (fashion designers, over to you!). How does your design help here? Also, culturally it is OK for men to stand side by side at a urinal but women need privacy and therefore more space. Can ID bring about cultural change?
Kudos to these designers for trying to tackle a real problem! As a woman who attends music festivals regularly and uses traditional porto-potties the struggle is real. Noting that the ADA concerns and lack of universal design is clear has been covered so I won’t mention it. As someone who is squarely in the target audience for this, I wouldn’t use them as the security/privacy issues are insane. Nearly every festival these days has photography drones flying everywhere so no roof is extremely problematic, especially if the person is wearing a one piece or an outfit that requires them to completely undress. It seems like they are aware of that and decided it didn’t matter? Second, no door in a festival environment where people are less than sober is also kind of scary. What’s to stop some random creep from just walking in while I’m completely undressed from my one piece outfit and in a very vulnerable position? In this design, nothing. Finally, every woman who attends a festival is going to have at least a bag or backpack of some sort, and very likely a jacket. Where are the hooks? Where are the shelves for my drink (maybe this is wishful thinking)? Even some traditional portos have hooks and shelves. I appreciate the effort here but I think it needs some serious tweaks.
This system may not be accessible to all, but does it really have to be? Any site where this would be installed should still be ADA compliant, meaning accessible stalls should also be present. If anything, having this system present would make wheelchair accessible stalls more available to the people who need them because they would be bypassed. I have never seen anyone abstain from using any accessible outhouse when their mission is to get to a toilet.
The way it was explained to me is that if a design can work for the 2 extreme scenarios you get the middle for free:)
Putting it another way don’t design for the people without challenges, design for the challenged. We all our challenged at one point or another.
Finally separate but equal is not equal.
On the topic of shelfs or hooks I definately try to never touch anything in a bathroom and a hook for a coat or bag would be great.