Mobile Toilets at Leifeng Pagoda and West Lake Scenic Area

Mobile toilets at Leifeng Pagoda and West Lake Scenic Area face issues such as long waiting times, uneven distribution, and difficulties in cleaning and maintenance. Relevant departments are studying long-term solutions, including adding intelligent eco-friendly toilets.

I. Existing Problems

1. Excessive Waiting Times: As a densely populated area in the West Lake Scenic Area, tourists at Leifeng Pagoda report waiting over half an hour to use mobile toilets, severely affecting their sightseeing experience. This issue is particularly prominent during national holidays like National Day, reflecting a severe mismatch between the number of toilets and tourist volume.
2. Uneven Distribution: The layout of mobile toilets around West Lake is unreasonable. For example, along the 1.5-kilometer Bai Causeway, there are only four mobile toilets, each with just 2-3 stalls. When the daily tourist volume exceeds 600,000, the existing facilities cannot meet demand, causing overloading in certain areas.
3. Difficulties in Cleaning and Maintenance: During peak periods, each toilet requires cleaning every five minutes on average, but the number of cleaning staff is limited. Some tourists do not flush after use or throw tissues randomly, exacerbating hygiene issues, resulting in slippery floors, unpleasant odors, and even malfunctions such as damaged toilet stall doors.

II. Causes of Problems

1. Lagging Planning: The number of mobile toilets in the scenic area has not increased in line with the growth in tourist volume, and their distribution does not adequately consider dynamic changes in tourist flow, leading to tight toilet resources in hotspots.
2. Management Pressure: There is an insufficient number of cleaning staff to handle the high-frequency cleaning demands during peak periods; the varying levels of tourist civility further increase maintenance difficulties.
3. Aging Facilities: Some mobile toilets have been in use for a long time, and aging equipment leads to frequent malfunctions, affecting normal use.

III. Solutions The Hangzhou Culture and Tourism Bureau has proposed targeted measures:

1. Adding Intelligent Eco-Friendly Toilets: Promote the use of intelligent toilets with solar power and recycled water flushing systems at popular attractions to enhance environmental friendliness and durability of the facilities.
2. Optimizing Information Guidance: Use the scenic area's app to display real-time waiting numbers at each toilet, helping tourists plan their routes reasonably and reduce waiting times.
3. Strengthening Management and Maintenance: Increase the number of cleaning staff, enhance publicity on civilized toilet use among tourists, and regularly inspect and repair facilities to ensure normal toilet functions.

These measures aim to address both hardware upgrades and management optimization, alleviating the supply-demand矛盾 (contradiction between supply and demand) of mobile toilets in the scenic area and improving the tourist experience.