Huizhou Public Mobile Toilet

The 'Tidal Toilet' in Huizhou West Lake Scenic Area is an innovative management approach to address the issue of women having difficulty finding toilets during holidays. It was piloted during the Spring Festival of 2026 and significantly shortened the waiting time for women by flexibly allocating toilet resources.

Setting Background and Purpose: As a 5A-rated scenic area, Huizhou West Lake often experiences long queues of women waiting for toilets during major holidays. To solve this problem, the scenic area has shifted its public toilet management from 'standardized construction' to 'refined operation', achieving dynamic allocation of toilet resources through the 'Tidal Toilet' to alleviate supply-demand contradictions during peak periods.

Operation Method:

• Signage Management: Public toilets included in tidal scheduling (northeast of Zhunti Temple, beside the East Gate, and beside Danli Pavilion) have their signs kept by staff during normal times and have their gender signs changed during holidays. Previously, sliding signs were used, but due to the risk of being arbitrarily moved, they have been removed and replaced with fixed slot-type signs that are only hung when scheduling is required.
• Physical Separation: Iron gates are installed on-site as physical separation facilities for transforming toilet areas during peak periods, allowing temporary conversion of male and female toilet areas, such as adjusting some male toilet stalls to female ones.
• Flexible Scheduling: Cleaning staff quickly allocate toilet resources based on on-site queue conditions using fixed signs and iron gate separations to avoid resource idleness or overcrowding.

Effect: According to scenic area monitoring, after the 'Tidal Toilet' was put into use, the waiting time for women during peak periods was shortened from over 30 minutes to less than 10 minutes, significantly improving toilet efficiency.

Controversy and Rectification:

• Signage Risk: Previously, sliding signs raised concerns among netizens about toilet order chaos and privacy leaks due to being unattended and easily altered. The scenic area has removed these signs and plans to replace them with fixed slot-type signs.
• Management Optimization: The scenic area will introduce multiple measures to improve the issue of women queuing for toilets during holidays, such as strengthening on-site guidance and optimizing scheduling processes, to further enhance user experience.