Sweet Relief

Pay toilets are on the way:

The city announced yesterday that it was in exclusive negotiations with a Spain-based firm to build 3,300 bus stop shelters, 330 sidewalk newsstands – and, at long last, toilets.

“I think it’s a good idea,” said Lucien Perry, 40, a real estate broker from Harlem. “There’s no place to use the bathroom around here.”

It was unclear exactly where the 20 self-cleaning pay toilets Cemusa Inc. wants to build would be placed, how much it would cost to use them and how soon they would make it to the streets.

But the figure that’s caught the city’s eye is Cemusa CEO Toulla Constantinou’s pledge to pay $1 billion over 20 years for the right to plaster advertising on the toilets – as well as on the newsstands and bus shelters.

The precise toilet design has yet to be determined.

Similar Cemusa loos in places like Sevilla, Spain, come equipped with a tiny sink for washing up and timers that regulate how long users can tend to their business. Afterward, the toilets automatically clean up with disinfectant spray.

Until then, it’s catch as catch can.