A South Bay nonprofit community advocacy group is upset with the new public restrooms outside the San Ysidro Port of Entry.
The six bathroom stalls cost $.50 to use, are inside a cage, are unisex and don’t have doors that go all the way to the ground.
The new restrooms are located next to the bus stop behind the McDonald’s Trolley Station building.
“We just couldn’t believe it,” said a disgusted David Flores, who is with Casa Familiar. The group has been advocating for South Bay communities for 43 years.
Flores wasn’t impressed with the new public restroom.
“Being an open air where you can see underneath these stalls and smell? I just can’t imagine what is going to happen when it’s really hot out,” said Flores. “It would not be acceptable in an airport. It wouldn’t be acceptable in any kind of port situation where you have travelers.”
The group is mad at the Metropolitan Transit System. Flores said MTS signed off on the restrooms.
“[The restrooms are a] lack of respect to the community and to travelers,” he said.
Casa Familiar recently sent a two-page letter expressing their concerns with the restrooms and a number of issues outside the San Ysidro Port of Entry on property controlled by the MTS.
Flores said they’re concerned about access through the McDonald’s building and the restrooms. They also said they want to see the new trolley cars on the Blue Line that dead-ends into the Port of Entry. The letter argued every train contains the older cars.
“We’ve seen that every other line in the trolley system has all new trolleys,” said Flores. “For San Ysidro, it’s been slow in coming our way.”
Flores added the Blue Line is the busiest and most profitable trolley line for the MTS and should be treated better.
An MTS spokesman told 10News MTS recently completed $660 million in upgrades to its trolley line and a majority of that was spent on the Blue Line. He added old trolley cars are used on all if its lines, especially when there are three or more cars.
The spokesman couldn’t comment on the restroom because they’re connected to the McDonald’s building that is at the heart of a lawsuit between the building’s owners and MTS.
Casa Familiar sent MTS its letter February 9. It has not received a response yet.
