Why we love partnering with cities

Written by: Beth D'Arcy

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We ♥️ toilets. (It’s actually a core company value). But we also really love cities. 

While we’re admittedly a little obsessed with touchless flushes and pristine porcelain, the heart of our work is really in the people we serve. We determined early on that partnering with municipalities would be the best way to serve the community, and 6 years later, it’s still true. Partnering with organizations that are just as committed to serving the public as we are is a highlight of our day-to-day work.

Read on for how we got here.

Why we started Throne

People often ask if we rent out Thrones for events or short-term contracts. It’s a great question, because most restroom alternatives offer that service. We’re a little different from the rest, because our mission from day one has been to expand restroom access, not sell another unit. Entering the events industry wouldn’t help us achieve what we set out to do.

The idea for Throne came from our co-founder and CEO, Fletcher Wilson, who, as a runner with a touchy GI system, would often need a restroom on his runs. His options came down to locked porta-potties, dirty and out-of-order public stalls, or spending $5 on a latte to use a local business restroom.

With a background in biodesign at Stanford, Fletcher naturally got obsessed with the problem of public restroom access. He started asking ride-share and delivery drivers, police officers, people experiencing homelessness, parents with young children, and everyone in between what their restroom options were while out and about. 

From city to city, the stories were the same and told of a deep systemic problem affecting millions of people everyday. He heard from: 

• People experiencing homelessness who were denied access to restrooms in businesses because of their appearance or inability to pay
• Parents who avoided certain parks because they felt unsafe entering restrooms there
• Rideshare drivers who resort to water bottles or local business restrooms

Fletcher didn’t see a clear solution, so he decided to build one. He called in Ben Clark, a longtime colleague and mechanical engineer, and connected with Jess Heizelman, a social impact strategist, and got to work.

“The people that struggle with restroom accessibility the most are who we built this for, because that's where the problem is most acute. It’s where we can have a bigger impact on someone's life.” - Fletcher Wilson, Co-Founder & CEO

Meet Throne’s founders

From the beginning, the team saw public restrooms as more than infrastructure; rather, a public service that can either add friction to daily life or make a city more welcoming and accessible.

Solving the public restroom challenge together

As the team dug into where restrooms were needed most, they realized it was mostly public spaces. “So many places where Thrones are needed are places with built-out infrastructure without bathrooms,” says Ben. “Like transit, metro stations, parks, and other public places where there should have been a bathroom from the beginning.”

The data backs this up. Most American cities lack adequate public restrooms. For every 100,000 people in the U.S., there are only 8 public toilets available. In comparison, Iceland has 56. 

The team saw the need for more restrooms, but uncovered the deeper issue preventing restroom access and expansion. Cities are mandated to provide clean, safe restrooms for everyone in their community, but don’t always have the staff and budget to do so effectively. 

So in addition to designing Thrones to be self-contained, tech-enabled, and hotel-like in quality, the founders crafted a business model to enable fast deployment and turnkey service. 

The result is a flexible fleet of clean, safe, and accessible public restrooms that cities can deploy to high-need areas quickly, without requiring additional staff to maintain them. By partnering with cities to expand restroom access, we’re able to move closer to our shared mission of improving the quality of life for all residents. 

“We and our city partners are both committed to delivering services that improve lives and daily life in communities, we’re just coming about it from different angles. Cities know their communities better than we do, and we know bathrooms better than they do. Together, we're able to come up with solutions that really work.” - Jess Heinzelman, Co-Founder & COO

What partnership makes possible

Ann Arbor, Michigan

In Ann Arbor, Throne’s operational model not only expanded restroom access in high-traffic areas downtown, but also relieved city staff of all management responsibilities. Derek Delacourt, City Services Administrator, describes the program as unusually low-touch for any public service. “The whole experience is great,” Delacourt says. “It’s incredibly simple.” Throne manages the operational complexity, while giving the city a critical public amenity without staff overhead.

Long Beach, California

In Long Beach, city leaders are using the insights that come with Throne’s connected restroom network, like usage rates, user feedback ratings, and incident reports, to make decisions about future restroom investments. Direct feedback from residents and visitors plus community surveys are also helping city leaders strategically make improvements to public spaces. 

We’d ♥️ to hear from you

We’re in the business of increasing the number of clean, safe, and accessible public restrooms in communities. If you’re thinking strategically about improving restroom infrastructure in your city, we’d love to hear from you. Fill out the form below to connect with our team. 

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