Man temporarily trapped in city's new self-cleaning bathroom in West Town

I'd put this in the win column. There's no such thing as bad PR. Congrats to the City on a successful product launch.

Man temporarily trapped in city's new self-cleaning bathroom in West Town

Rosmary Sobol, Suntimes

Nov 12, 2026

The man, who wasn't hurt, "didn't know how to get out," Wednesday, the debut of the free public restroom near the CTA's Blue Line station at Division.

A man was "temporarily trapped" in the city's new self-cleaning bathroom in West Town Wednesday afternoon.

The man used the facility around 3 p.m. and finished before the door automatically popped open after 15 minutes, said Paul Stewart, a spokesperson for JCDecaux, the bathroom's operator.

“Everything worked the way it was designed to," said Stewart, adding the unit did not malfunction.

“Apparently this person didn’t see the button,’’ said Stewart. He said there are two buttons that users can push to open the door. There are also audio prompts to assist users in the unit.

“They were kicking the door and trying to force the door open,” Stewart said. “They didn’t know how to get out.”

The man's actions, which damaged the facility in the 1200 block of North Milwaukee Avenue, also caused it to lock down, reset, and prompted an emergency response from security personnel or one of two firehouses in the area which have a bathroom key, Stewart ”