Ventspils is introducing a new procedure for automatic public toilets, which will allow some facilities to be used free of charge, while others will be re-tariffed with the option of cashless payment, informs the Ventspils Communal Administration.
In order to improve the accessibility of public toilets for children, city residents and visitors in general, automatic public toilets are now available free of charge in Reņķa Garden, Seaside Park, at the central entrance to the beach on Medņu Street and in Pārventa Forest Park near the children’s park “Fantāzija”. To use these facilities, all you need to do is press a button to access them. The free toilets will have a security system and cannot be accessed from outside if they are already occupied. They will continue to be monitored by CCTV from outside, operated by a security company, thus preventing vandalism and other forms of disorder.
In contrast, the automatic toilets in Dzirnavu Square, Ostas Street, South Pier and Loču Street car park will retain their pay function, where one of the booths will allow cashless or bank card payments. Over the past years, Ventspils Municipality has repeatedly received suggestions from residents about the need to introduce a cashless function in public facilities, as nowadays many residents no longer pay with cash. Despite this, residents were informed that the implementation of such a function is complicated as the installation of such equipment is an outsourced service with monthly service fees and the equipment must be certified according to regulatory requirements. Despite this, residents were informed that the implementation of such a function is complicated as the installation of such equipment is an outsourced service with monthly service fees and the equipment must be certified according to regulatory requirements.
Due to the national inflation, the maintenance of all facilities has also become considerably more expensive, so for those facilities that have been kept at a charge tariff and are equipped with cashless payment, an entrance fee of EUR 0.40 will be charged instead of the previous EUR 0.20. The current tariff has been in place since 2007, when payments were still made in lats. The value of this currency was higher than the Euro and the first such facilities were installed in Ostas Street and in Reņķa Garden. With the changeover to the Euro in Latvia, the tariff for the use of public facilities remained unchanged at EUR 0.20, but the negative impact of inflation has led to heavy losses in the maintenance of automated facilities, so it was decided to increase the tariff to EUR 0.40.
