New technology debuting at Los Angeles International Airport
may signal the end of those awkward attempts to peer under bathroom stalls to
determine if they're occupied.
Tooshlights will unveil its “smart restroom traffic
management” system in American Airlines Terminal 4 Wednesday.
The system links ceiling-mounted indicator lights with “smart”
latches on the stall doors that can sense when they are locked.
When a stall is available, the light above it is green, and
when the latch is activated, the light turns red.
“A common problem in facility design is flow of movement,
which affects passenger satisfaction,” says Allen Klevens, president and CEO at
Modus Systems, the parent company of Tooshlights.
“Tooshlights is disrupting the public restroom industry by
fixing the efficiency of restrooms, especially in large commercial spaces like
airports, where people are pressed for time. We are thrilled that our hometown
airport is the first airport in the world to feature Tooshlights.”
Subscribe to our newsletter below
Tooshlights will also provide real-time data to assist
airport management in tracking usage of restroom stalls to facilitate maintenance
services.
“The desire for clean and available restrooms is
consistently in the top ranks of what guests want at an airport, and this will
help us provide a higher level of service to the traveling public and allow us
to better meet our strategic goal of delivering facilities and guest
experiences that are exceptional,” says Barbara Yamamoto, chief experience
officer at Los Angeles World Airports, which operates LAX.
If the smart restroom pilot is successful, LAX will add it
to additional restrooms in Terminal 4 and then throughout the airport.