As ‘tube toilets’ disappear, Prague works to expand free WC network

Shops, restaurants, and businesses, in cooperation with the City of Prague, are collaborating to ensure that more toilets are available free of charge to the public as street-based public toilets – including the highly recognizable tube toilets – have disappeared.

Businesses in the capital – with help from the municipality of Prague – have taken part in several schemes to ensure the public still has access to toilets free of charge.

From January this year, for example, the City of Prague has allowed establishments that offer free access to their toilets to pay discounted rent of CZK 5 less per square meter.

Prague 7, for example, has created the SOS WC project in which shops and eateries can advertise that their toilets are free to use. The district publishes the network of free toilets on a paper map, which people can download online or collect at Prague 7’s main information center. 

District spokeswoman Hana Janišová told Czech news site iDnes that the availability of the “free toilet” network offline is especially beneficial to older citizens, as they do not use smartphones.

Other districts in the capital have similar projects to promote free-to-use toilets. In Prague 3, the Nouzovka system contains a network of public toilets based in administrative buildings, as well as cafes and restaurants. 

Prague 3 spokesperson Jiří Hannich says that all establishments offering the toilets have a sticker on their entrance that shows they are part of the system. Prague 6 also has a similar network that includes stickers displaying the words: “WC FREE.”

In Prague 1 – which has the highest footfall in the city due to heavy tourist presence – the city district has set up new toilets in parks or islands, according to Prague 1 spokeswoman Karolína Šnejdarová.

The drive to offer more free-to-use toilets is in part explained by the closure of all street toilets housed in cylinder-like “tubes” in the city.

Made by advertising firm JCDecaux, the public toilets (which display adverts on their exterior) have been permanently locked after a 2021 agreement that ended cooperation between the multinational firm and the City of Prague. 

The toilets no longer meet EU hygiene standards and their cost – of CZK 5 per use – has not been updated for years, Prague councilor Adam Zábransky told iDnes. This underlines their non-functionality and need to be replaced in some form.