New Rockaloo app lets you reserve private bathrooms throughout NYC
Image via Rockaloo/App Store
We don’t all remember mom’s wise advice to “go before you leave the house” as often as we should. And once we’re out there, the prospects for finding a restroom in the city when we need one can be, at best, a crapshoot. Which is where a new app called Rockaloo comes in. According to Time Out, for a small fee, it allows users to buy a pass to restrooms at private businesses across New York City, giving them the opportunity to reserve a time slot to do their private business without having to wait in line. (Are we taking the sharing economy just a little too far?)
Image via Jon-Eric Melsæter/Flickr
Rockaloo launched in August and it now counts 130 Manhattan, Brooklyn and Queens businesses as partners, apparently with lots more on the way. With the app comes a map showing nearby bathrooms; you can buy a pass to access them for anywhere from 99 cents to $8.99. Then, you have one hour to stroll into the business, show your pass on the app, and head for the head.
While there are already apps that use GPS technology to find nearby restrooms–complete with rating opportunities–Rockaloo takes the concept to a new level. From the business’ end, the basic premise resembles the popular gym-based Class Pass: Businesses let randoms use their facilities for a price, a cut of which they pocket.
A peek at the app shows restaurants, cafes (le Pain Quotidien, Fort Defiance, Cafe Grumpy) and bars (The Wayland) that have opened their doors to a new kind of paying customer. David Sirieix, Yvan Bedouet, and Binoy Wilson, the app’s founders, say their goal is to improve access to restrooms across the city, and they’re making it possible by giving businesses some of the revenue (a portion of each purchase also goes to charity). With the all-access concept in mind, they’re calling it “The most unexpected VIP e-Ticket in town.”
[Via TONY]
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