1995 — Page 382

Urban Council Proceedings 市政局議事錄 All AI Reviewed

Page 382 of 485

HONG KONG URBAN COUNCIL

According to the actual location study, under certain circumstances, male users are in fact more likely than their female counterparts to have to wait for their turn to use the public toilets. For instance, men usually have to line up for using public toilets at bus termini because they far outnumber female users. On the contrary, female users will not have to wait for their turn to use the toilet in a boys' school, even during recess. That is because there are relatively fewer female users in a boys' school.

I would like to thank Ms. Au for raising this thought-provoking issue which is too often neglected. It also provides us with an opportunity to conduct a thorough review of this aspect of toilet culture and some of the essential elements of toilet design.

The Council's Working Group on Public Toilets holds regular meetings to make timely improvements to cater for the practical needs of the general public, with a view to fulfilling our slogan of “Enriching City Life'.

You all have a copy of the reply. There is a table attached to the reply listing the statistics clearly. My reply was made basing on such data.

MR. LEUNG KAM-TAO (in Cantonese):—Mr. Chairman, the data given in the table are in great detail, but according to my personal experience, venues where people have to wait for their turn in the use of toilets are very often cultural presentation venues or busy parks—such as the Victoria Park where the waiting problem is most serious. Unfortunately, these critical areas were not included in the survey. For example, cultural presentation venues like Cultural Centre were not included. Mr. Chairman, with regard to the design of public toilets in such cultural presentation venues, will special arrangements be made by the Council to shorten the waiting time for use of toilets by females?

Chairman (in Cantonese):—As I mentioned a moment ago, to wait for one's turn to use the toilet is not the unique problem of female users. Males and females alike have to wait depending on the circumstances. Just now you have mentioned Victoria Park during the Lantern Festival or during New Year's Eve or during other times when large events were held, and the Hong Kong Cultural Centre during the intermission of full-house concerts, etc. As I have said a few moments ago, although the survey has not shown any data regarding such circumstances in these venues, yet such circumstances are rather similar to those in tourist sightseeing spots when a large number of toilet users suddenly appear at the same time and have to leave within a short period of time. For example, at a sightseeing spot, a tourist guide may tell the tourists guided by him that they can only stay at that particular location for 30 minutes. In such case, the tourists would not stay in the toilet for the entire 30 minutes. They would finish and leave as quickly as possible. So, you may notice that at the sightseeing spots, both male and female users would only take 1 1/2 minutes in using the toilet, while in other areas, such as industrial areas, users may stay in the toilet for a longer time—maybe 3-4 minutes.

Page 382 of 485

Edit History

2026-05-16 00:26:48 · NVIDIA / meta/llama-4-maverick-17b-128e-instruct

Live

View comparison

AI Proofread

Page 382 of 485 Page 382 of 485 HONG KONG URBAN COUNCIL 95 According to the actual location study, under certain circumstances, male users are in fact more likely than their female counterparts to have to wait for their turn to use the public toilets. For instance, men usually have to line up for using public toilets at bus termini because they far outnumber female users. On the contrary, female users will not have to wait for their turn to use the toilet in a boys' school, even during recess. That is because there are relatively fewer female users in a boys' school. I would like to thank Ms. Au for raising this thought-provoking issue which is too often neglected. It also provides us with an opportunity to conduct a thorough review of this aspect of toilet culture and some of the essential elements of toilet design. The Council's Working Group on Public Toilets holds regular meetings to make timely improvements to cater for the practical needs of the general public, with a view to fulfilling our slogan of “Enriching City Life'. You all have a copy of the reply. There is a table attached to the reply listing the statistics clearly. My reply was made basing on such data. MR. LEUNG KAM-TAO (in Cantonese):—Mr. Chairman, the data given in the table are in great detail, but according to my personal experience, venues where people have to wait for their turn in the use of toilets are very often cultural presentation venues or busy parks—such as the Victoria Park where the waiting problem is most serious. Unfortunately, these critical areas were not included in the survey. For example, cultural presentation venues like Cultural Centre were not included. Mr. Chairman, with regard to the design of public toilets in such cultural presentation venues, will special arrangements be made by the Council to shorten the waiting time for use of toilets by females? Chairman (in Cantonese):—As I mentioned a moment ago, to wait for one's turn to use the toilet is not the unique problem of female users. Males and females alike have to wait depending on the circumstances. Just now you have mentioned Victoria Park during the Lantern Festival or during New Year's Eve or during other times when large events were held, and the Hong Kong Cultural Centre during the intermission of full-house concerts, etc. As I have said a few moments ago, although the survey has not shown any data regarding such circumstances in these venues, yet such circumstances are rather similar to those in tourist sightseeing spots when a large number of toilet users suddenly appear at the same time and have to leave within a short period of time. For example, at a sightseeing spot, a tourist guide may tell the tourists guided by him that they can only stay at that particular location for 30 minutes. In such case, the tourists would not stay in the toilet for the entire 30 minutes. They would finish and leave as quickly as possible. So, you may notice that at the sightseeing spots, both male and female users would only take 1 1/2 minutes in using the toilet, while in other areas, such as industrial areas, users may stay in the toilet for a longer time—maybe 3-4 minutes. Page 382 of 485 Page 382 of 485

Baseline (Original)

Page 382 of 485 Page 382 of 485 HONG KONG URBAN COUNCIL 95 According to the actual location study, under certain circumstances, male users are in fact more likely than their female counterparts to have to wait for their turn to use the public toilets. For instance, men usually have to line up for using public toilets at bus termini because they far outnumber female users. On the contrary, female users will not have to wait for their turn to use the toilet in a boys' school, even during recess. That is because there are relatively fewer female users in a boys' school. I would like to thank Ms. Au for raising this thought provoking issue which is too often neglected. It also provides us with an opportunity to conduct a thorough review of this aspect of toilet culture and some of the essential elements of toilet design. The Council's Working Group on Public Toilets holds regular meetings to make timely improvements to cater for the practical needs of the general public, with a view to fulfilling our slogan of “Enriching City Life'. You all have a copy of the reply. There is a table attached to the reply listing the statistics clearly. My reply was made basing on such data. MR. LEUNG KAM-TAO (in Cantonese):-Mr. Chairman, the data given in the table are in great detail, but according to my personal experience, venues where people have to wait for their turn in the use of toilets are very often cultural presentation venues or busy parks—such as the Victoria Park where the waiting problem is most serious. Unfortunately, these critical areas were not included in the survey. For example, cultural presentation venues like Cultural Centre were not included. Mr. Chairman, with regard to the design of public toilets in such cultural presentation venues, will special arrangements be made by the Council to shorten the waiting time for use of toilets by females? Chairman (in Cantonese):—As I mentioned a moment ago, to wait for one's turn to use the toilet is not the unique problem of female users. Males and females alike have to wait depending on the circumstances. Just now you have mentioned Victoria Park during the lantern Festival or during New Year Eve or during other times when large events were held, and the Hong Kong Cultural Centre during the intermission of full-house concerts, etc. As I have said a few moments ago, although the survey has not shown any data regarding such circumstances in these venues, yet such circumstances are rather similar to those in tourist sightseeing spots when a large number of toilet users suddenly appear at the same time and have to leave within a short period of time. For example, at a sightseeing spot, a tourist guide may tell the tourists guided by him that they can only stay at that particular location for 30 minutes. In such case, the tourists would not stay in the toilet for the entire 30 minutes. They would finish and leave as quickly as possible. So, you may notice that at the sightseeing spots, both male and female users would only take 11⁄2 minutes in using the toilet, while in other areas, such as industrial areas, users may stay in the toilet for a longer time-may be 3-4 minutes. Page 382 of 485 Page 382 of 485

2026-05-16 00:26:48 · Baseline

View content

Page 382 of 485

HONG KONG URBAN COUNCIL

I would like to thank Ms. Au for raising this thought provoking issue which is too often neglected. It also provides us with an opportunity to conduct a thorough review of this aspect of toilet culture and some of the essential elements of toilet design.

You all have a copy of the reply. There is a table attached to the reply listing the statistics clearly. My reply was made basing on such data.

MR. LEUNG KAM-TAO (in Cantonese):-Mr. Chairman, the data given in the table are in great detail, but according to my personal experience, venues where people have to wait for their turn in the use of toilets are very often cultural presentation venues or busy parks—such as the Victoria Park where the waiting problem is most serious. Unfortunately, these critical areas were not included in the survey. For example, cultural presentation venues like Cultural Centre were not included. Mr. Chairman, with regard to the design of public toilets in such cultural presentation venues, will special arrangements be made by the Council to shorten the waiting time for use of toilets by females?

Chairman (in Cantonese):—As I mentioned a moment ago, to wait for one's turn to use the toilet is not the unique problem of female users. Males and females alike have to wait depending on the circumstances. Just now you have mentioned Victoria Park during the lantern Festival or during New Year Eve or during other times when large events were held, and the Hong Kong Cultural Centre during the intermission of full-house concerts, etc. As I have said a few moments ago, although the survey has not shown any data regarding such circumstances in these venues, yet such circumstances are rather similar to those in tourist sightseeing spots when a large number of toilet users suddenly appear at the same time and have to leave within a short period of time. For example, at a sightseeing spot, a tourist guide may tell the tourists guided by him that they can only stay at that particular location for 30 minutes. In such case, the tourists would not stay in the toilet for the entire 30 minutes. They would finish and leave as quickly as possible. So, you may notice that at the sightseeing spots, both male and female users would only take 11⁄2 minutes in using the toilet, while in other areas, such as industrial areas, users may stay in the toilet for a longer time-may be 3-4 minutes.

1995 — Page 382

Edit History

Comments

Private Research Note