The Hollywood Bowl has a new feature that patrons are delighted with: red and green lights over public restroom stalls, indicating whether someone is in there. The lights, called Tooshlights, can reduce wait times up to 50%, which is a huge help when the line for relief snakes out the door.
A Hollywood Bowl spokesperson confirms that wait times have decreased and “women seem to love it,” although stats aren’t available since the venue’s season just began. So far, Tooshlights are installed in just one of the women’s rooms at the 17,000-plus-seat venue, but there are plans to expand to others.
“Tooshlights help with privacy as well,” the spokesperson says, “as patrons do not have to check under the stalls for feet or push on the doors to see if a toilet is available.”
Tooshlights are inspired by technology at, of all things, L.A. parking garages, which in recent years have been installing similar lighting over parking spaces to indicate which are occupied or available. The difference: “We don’t park cars. We park, um, other things,” Klevens says, with an impish grin.
Tooshlights also have other talents -they can be programmed to flash in different colors, such as when a team scores a touchdown. More importantly, they can also be remotely monitored, as a constant green light may indicate a toilet that’s out of order or needs cleaning. Read more about this simple but useful idea at Forbes. -via Digg
(Image credit: Andrew Bender)