Democrat kingmaker Mayor Zohran Mamdani has rolled out New York City’s new “thrones,” but visitors shouldn’t dawdle when doing their business at Gotham’s costly new portable restrooms.
Hizzoner promised relief for the city’s shortage of public potties, and he has delivered, but there’s a catch for the costly ADA-accessible units: the doors will auto-open after 10 minutes.
Mamdani proudly announced the 17 new Throne Labs restrooms that will be located across the Big Apple’s five boroughs.
“Because you can’t wait — and you shouldn’t have to,” the socialist mayor wrote in a Wednesday post to X.
17 new public bathrooms. Across all five boroughs.
Because you can’t wait — and you shouldn’t have to. pic.twitter.com/PqiyODUoBu
— Mayor Zohran Kwame Mamdani (@NYCMayor) September 16, 2026
“The toilets are ADA accessible and come complete with running water, climate control and baby changing tables. They will be open for use from 7 a.m. to 10 p.m. daily — and can be opened via phone text message, QR code, the Throne Bathroom Network app or a tap card,” the New York Post reported.
The new units, which cost $235,000 each, are part of a $4 million program to address the public restroom shortage in the city of more than 8.5 million, a paltry and expensive solution which could seemingly be better addressed by investing taxpayer money in more traditional low-tech portable restrooms.
(Video: YouTube/NBC New York)
Throne Labs co-founder and COO Jessica Heinzelman explained the units’ time limit feature at a city news conference, saying that occupants will be notified by flashing lights and an audio warning that their time has run out before the doors open.
“At 10 minutes, there are flashing lights. The audio comes on. And this is both in English and Spanish for all of these indicators,” she said, according to Fox News. “It says, ‘The door — your time is up, the door is opening.’ The door’s opening. That extends for about 30 seconds. So, if you are still pants down, we’re not going to open the door on you. But then the door does open.”
“This is not a place to scroll on your phone. I know that many people do that. This isn’t one of them,” Mamdani said.
“Too many New Yorkers know what it’s like to have nowhere to go while they’re on the go,” the mayor declared. “This pilot is about making sure New Yorkers can count on a clean, safe, accessible bathroom when they need one. We are going to learn from this pilot and build a public bathroom network that meets the needs of New Yorkers in every borough.”
“The 10-min limit is a common standard for most timed public restrooms. We further validated measuring the average throne use time, with the vast majority of users across our markets leaving within 3½ minutes,” Heinzelman told Fox News Digital. “Users are notified of the time limit prior to entering, and the throne provides multiple audio and visual warnings throughout the use.”
“For most people using a public restroom, it is. Across the Throne network, 81% of users complete their visit in under 5 minutes. Sure, many of us might escape to the bathroom at home for a few extended moments of peace with our phones, but that behavior doesn’t typically carry over to public facilities. People want to get in, take care of business, and get out,” Throne states on the company’s website.
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