Tech

Meet the Tech Company That'll Reduce Restroom Wait Times

Technology can be used to do great things. Consider how much better your life is now that you have a cell phone. Or a car. Or any number of inventions that we seem to take for granted now. They're all thanks to someone using tech to make our lives better. Technology can also be used to make our lives better in much less grand ways. Like making it easier to go to the bathroom.

Let's start with a familiar scenario. You're at a football game and downing plenty of beer (and water, of course!). As halftime approaches, you plan your move to the bathrooms, even though you know it'll be crowded. When the first half ends, you make your way there, only to find the worst is true: The line is already snaking halfway down the stadium's hallway. After waiting for 15 minutes, you finally see someone exit a stall, so you go in to take care of business. As you walk past the line of stalls, you notice that three others are empty, and no one seems to notice. You instantly become enraged because your wait time could've been shorter.

This is where Tooshlights comes in. Yes, Tooshlights. The idea is as simple as it gets: A light above a stall is green when it's empty, and red when it's occupied. That's it. Allen Klevens, co-founder of the company, said he was inspired to create the product after waiting in a long line at a concert. "During a 20-minute intermission, mostly at the women’s restrooms, there were lines that would go all the way out the door," Klevens told NPR. "There were stalls in the middle that were completely vacant and nobody knew. We've all had an experience, I believe. We just don't talk about it. You don't think about those kind of things." But Klevens did think about it, and into his mind popped another image: Los Angeles parking garages. Several LA garages now use lights above spaces to indicate which ones are vacant.

Not only does Tooshlights help the flow (pun alert!) of traffic at restrooms, they'd also help with the ever-annoying "peek under," where you have to stoop down to look under the stall door and see if its occupied. "Tooshlights help with privacy as well,” a spokesperson told Forbes. "As patrons do not have to check under the stalls for feet or push on the doors to see if a toilet is available."

Tooshlights isn't just stopping at the lights. Klevens plans on adapting them to indicate when a stall needs cleaned. He also plans to launch an app that will alert users to which line has the least amount of wait time. Tooshlights isn't the microwave or the solar panel. But we say it's technology at its finest.

[Image via screengrab - Tooshlights]