Turns out the people who jump the turnstiles of subways are way more likely to commit violence or vandalism than paying riders. For years the Left said fare enforcement efforts were a waste of money, turns out they were wrong.
I like the idea of the throne public bathrooms. Not requiring payment, but identification instead. I wonder if you just enter your phone number, or if they text you a code you have to enter to verify that it's your phone number?
This also feels like the sort of problem the Chinese social credit system is meant to solve. With cameras everywhere & facial/gait recognition, they can identify people anywhere in public, and punish bad behaviour below the level of crime.
I also remember the UK years had a psychologist change the wording/structure of some tax forms to increase % of on time payments, and it worked so well they set up a department to do it in other areas of govt. I wonder what happened with that...
Anyway, it's an interesting problem space.
The way it works is that you text a phone number (facilitated by a QR code) which Throne you want to use and it automatically opens. These bathrooms play classical music and are touchless so you don’t have to touch any knobs or buttons, you just wave over a sensor to operate the sink or open the door. It’s overall super frictionless/convenient and I agree with the article on how well they’ve been treated (I haven’t seen any graffiti or vandalism yet) despite their frequent use.