The Scariest Bathrooms in New York City

Originally published on MonkeyPundit.com

Everybody is familiar with the "gas station bathroom" nightmare- the gross, in-house outhouses that desperate commuters are expected to settle for on road trips.

For New York City Yellow Cab Drivers, such horrific bathrooms are the daily reality.

Behold, the disgusting world of the bathrooms designated for Taxi Drivers at the Central Taxi Stand at John F. Kennedy International Airport.

Most of the sinks have either broken faucets or broken soap dispensers. Some, like the sink pictured below, have both broken faucets and broken soap dispensers.


Many of the toilets, such as the one below, do not have toilet seats.


In fact, many of the bathroom stalls are broken as well. Damage to these bathroom stalls includes:
Bathroom Stall Doors Falling off the Hinges:

Bathroom Stalls Held Together By String (I believe that it is packing string)


Bathroom Stalls which, having lost anchor with the wall and floor, are being supported only by a milk crate:


And of course, as if this should be a surprise, most of the bathroom stalls, like the one pictured below, do not have working locks.


The City of New York was, however, kind enough to supply its Taxi Drivers with working XCelerator Automated Hand Dryers (not pictured).

Incidentally, look at the below picture. Notice that there are no signs designating "Mens" and Women's" Bathrooms. That's because bathrooms are not provided for women at JFK International Airport's Central Taxi Stand.

Those who wanted to make a guess about the demographics of Taxi Drivers based on the empirical evidence gathered at the Central Taxi Stand would wrongly assume that all the Taxi Drivers in New York City are Men. They aren't.

There is a conspicuous lack of women at The Central Taxi Stand because The City of New York does not provide facilities for its female Taxi Drivers.

Given that a fare from JFK International Airport (which requires Taxi Drivers to queue at the Central Taxi Stand) can pay off almost half of a Taxi Driver's daily lease, this deprives female taxi drivers of an opportunity afforded to their male counterparts.

As you can see from these photos, the condition of the bathrooms at the JFK International Airport Central Taxi Stand are deplorable, even by men's standards.

Why does the city of New York show such disregard for its Taxi Drivers?

Is it because most of New Yorks Taxi Drivers are immigrants? (Or come from immigrant families?)

Is it because most of New York's Taxi Drivers possess less than a college education?

Maybe it's because New York City Taxi Drivers depend on the Central Taxi Stand for their livelihood and, as a consequence, do not have the luxury of opportunities to boycott a businesses that has such filthy, disgusting bathrooms.

If you could like to join me in complaining to the City of New York, here is what you can do:

Email Mayor Bloomberg by clicking here

Email Matthew W. Daus, the Commissioner of the New York Taxi and Limousine Commission (TLC) by clicking here