Ayman Helweh
Edit
 Need to use the restroom while you are on a long drive in Finland? You better have a mobile phone on you! In order to fight back against vandalism, the Finnish Road Administration has started deploying this January a system which allows travellers to open the doors to roadside toilets only by sending an SMS message to the number given on the door. This is due to the rising number of breakages, arson attempts, and thefts in the buildings housing public conveniences for motorists. The opening of the door costs just the normal SMS rate without any additional charges.  There are instructions on the doors to toilets and shower rooms, advising prospective users to send a text message "OPEN" to the number given on the door. The call is directed to a modem, which then sounds a buzzer and opens the door. The traffic centre will save the numbers of the callers for a while, but not permanently. This should somewhat raise the threshold for vandalism and reduce the damages to public property, as people will know that their phone number is down on record if they wish to trash the place.
(hs.fi)References: hs.fi, textually.org 3 Comments: on Gotta Pee? SMS The Door- New Public Toilets System in Finland |
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Urban Retrospectives
