Public toilets in Swiss cities

Public toilets in Zürich. Photo by Mike Knell.

Since my first post, I've found out that the public toilets provided by the city of Zürich are all non-gendered. (The cubicles, that is, not the urinals.) I don't know if this is the case for other cities, so to find out I will email the relevant council departments.

The list below shows the publicly-available information on pubic toilets for the major cities in Switzerland by population, according to Wikipedia. I will update it as I get more information.

Update, 24. 08.2014: Where official maps are not available (and often when they are!), the WC-Guide is the best bet for locating public toilets in Switzerland. The Guide has iPhone and Android apps and notes whether toilets are wheelchair-accessible, but not whether they are gender-neutral.

I will be sending information on gender-neutral public toilets to REFUGE Restrooms to expand their database.

1. Zürich
• General information
• Mobile website (German)
• Raw data (German)
• Gender-neutral? Yes
• Disabled access? Where noted (rollstuhlgängig = accessible by wheelchair)
2. Geneva
• Map (French) NB: yellow symbols show facilities only open in summer
• Gender-neutral? Not yet known
• Disabled access? Where noted on map
• Email sent 23.08.2014
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3. Basel
• General information (German)
• Map (German)
• Gender-neutral? Not yet known
• Disabled access? Where noted on map
• Email sent 23.08.2014
4. Lausanne
• General information (French)
• Map (French) - select the tab Show > Mobilite reduite - Donnees Pro Infirmis > Toilettes
• Gender-neutral? Not yet known
• Disabled access? Where noted on map
• Email sent 23.08.2014
5. Bern
• Map: German, French, English - select Add themes > Services, family > Public restrooms
• Gender-neutral? Not yet known
• Disabled access? Wheelchair-accessible status is shown by clicking on the toilet icon. A fuller list of wheelchair-accessible toilets (German) is given by the Behindertenkonferenz Stadt und Region Bern BRB, including ones in restaurants, theatres etc.
• Email sent 23.08.2014
6. Lucerne
• Public toilets masterplan for the city of Lucerne (German, PDF, 2009)
• It is very hard to turn up any usable information on the Lucerne public toilets. The masterplan linked has a list of sites, but some of these have been closed since it was published
• Gender-neutral? Lucerne is moving towards the modern, unisex cabins as used in Zürich. Unknown how many of the older, gender-segregated style are still in use
• Disabled access? Yes, some
• Update 23.04.2014: A Nette Toilette scheme (toilets in restaurants and hotels that are open to the public) started in Lucerne this spring (press release in German)
• Email sent 23.08.2014
7. Winterthur
• List, map (German)
• Mobile website (German)
• Gender-neutral? Not yet known
• Disabled access? Where noted; only noted on list, not map or mobile website
• Email sent 23.08.2014
8. St. Gallen
• Map (German) - select Points of Interest under Suche nach... and then choose öffentliche WCs from the dropdown menu
• Gender neutral? Not yet known
• Disabled access? Not yet known
• Email sent 23.08.2014
9. Lugano
• No list or map available (or perhaps my Italian is not up to the task?)
• Email sent 23.08.2014
10. Biel/Bienne
• The city map (German, French) should display public toilets, but none appear
• Gender-neutral? Not yet known
• Disabled access? Not yet known
• Update 24.08.2014: The public toilets in Biel have been closed since the start of 2014 in a cost-saving measure. A Nette Toilette pilot programme will start this autumn (PDF article in French)
11. Thun
• Map (PDF; German, but with pictograms)
• The city map also includes 13 "nette Toiletten": toilets in restaurants and hotels that are open to the public (press release in German)
• Gender-neutral? Not yet known
• Disabled access? Where marked
• Email sent 23.08.2014
12. Köniz
• No list or map available
• Email sent 23.08.2014
13. La Chaux-de-Fonds
• No list or map available
• Email sent 23.08.2014
14. Schaffhausen
• Mobile website (German)
• Gender-neutral? Not yet known
• Disabled access? Not yet known
• Email sent 23.08.14
15. Fribourg
•  No list or map available
• Email sent 23.08.2014
16. Vernier
• No list or map available
• Email sent 23.08.2014
17. Chur
• Map (German) - select Points of Interest under Suche nach... and then choose öffentliche WCs from the dropdown menu
• Gender neutral? Not yet known
• Disabled access? Not yet known
• Email sent 23.08.2014
18. Neuchâtel
• No list or map available
• Email sent 23.08.2014
19. Uster
• Map (German)
• List and map of wheelchair-accessible toilets (German)
• Gender-neutral? Not yet known
• Disabled access? Where shown on list
• Email sent 23.08.2014
20. Sion
• No list or map available
• Email sent 23.08.2014