When you need a public toilet urgently, nothing is more frustrating than having to search for coins to use the facilities.
While you might think this happens only at hawker centres and older malls, one mall in Kovan charges S$0.20 to use its toilet.
Source: Shin Min Daily News on Facebook
However, this only applies to the toilet on the first floor while those upstairs are free.
The charge started being levied about four months ago at Heartland Mall in Kovan, reported Shin Min Daily News.
The mall above Kovan MRT station has three levels of shops with no basement.
Ostensibly, the toilet on the first floor of the mall would be the most convenient to use, that is until you spot the notice outside.
The notice states that all users of the level one toilet will be charged S$0.20 per entry “with immediate effect”.
However, it also helpfully informs visitors that they may use the toilets on the second and third storeys for free.
Source: Shin Min Daily News on Facebook
There’s a table outside the toilet for users to put their coins and a nice cleaning auntie there reminding people that they can head upstairs to use the toilets for free.
The notice further explains that the charge is necessary to “minimise overcrowding and defray rising maintenance costs”.
Apparently, the move was made as patrons from the next-door Kovan 209 Market and Food Centre would come to Heartland Mall to use the first-floor toilet.
Source: Google Maps
A worker at the mall told Shin Min Daily News that during peak hours, Heartland Mall’s first-floor toilet would be so crowded that queues would form.
Since the charge was implemented a few months ago, the situation has improved, she added.
Another F&B worker pointed out that the hawker centre toilet charges S$0.10 for usage.
Thus, many people used to head to the mall toilet to avoid paying that charge.
However, not everybody is happy about the new charge.
Some workers in the mall have said that it alleviates the congestion in the level one toilet but transfers it to the toilets upstairs.
One female employee said that there can now be about 10 people queueing up for the female toilet on the second floor during weekends.
The second-floor toilet isn’t that big, she noted, and going upstairs or downstairs to use the toilet when it’s crowded can be inconvenient.
A member of the public, 35-year-old Huang Zhengwei, pointed out that there’s no male toilet on the second floor.
Thus, guys who don’t want to pay are forced to use the gents’ on the third floor.
A vendor who operates a drinks stall at the hawker centre felt that S$0.20 was too expensive to pay for the mall toilet.
Before, he would use the mall toilet as it was cleaner. Now, he uses the one at the hawker centre instead as it’s free for stallholders.
For members of the public, it’s S$0.10 cheaper.
Heartland Mall employees apparently need not pay to use the first-floor toilet.
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Featured image adapted from Shin Min Daily News on Facebook.
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