Mobility is closely connected to personhood. With age and declining physical conditions, staying active becomes a challenge. The availability of clean toilets in the city gives a sense of security that helps seniors stay mobile.

JustGo is an autonomous mobile washroom service that empowers seniors with the confidence to go further. By having toilets available on demand, the city can be turned into a space where seniors can stay active, push their limits, and continue to engage in society.

How it works

JustGo washrooms can be booked through an app, a text message or a phone call. Once the booking is confirmed, a mobile washroom will be dispatched to a discreet spot close to the user's location. The washroom can be paid for and unlocked directly through the app or with a credit card. The washrooms are cleaned by a service crew several times a day. Feedback from users is used to provide fast incident response.

To make the service affordable, potential partnerships include the local municipalities, and companies that provide vehicles, cleaning services and hygiene products. During non-peak periods, the washrooms may be deployed for events to optimise usage.

Process

32 people, ranging from seniors to non-profit organisations, were interviewed on the topic of mobility of seniors in the urban environment. Through guerrilla research and in-depth interviews, a key observation was that the physical challenges faced by seniors was analogous to extreme sports. An interview with a parkour instructor provided the foundation for the project's main insight: having safety nets throughout the journey gives people the confidence to go further.

Providing safety nets that people couldn’t carry with them showed most promise, as one of the core things that seniors did not have control over was the availability of clean toilets when they were out. To prototype different touch points of the service, a paper app prototype and a fake portable toilet was used to simulate the experience of ordering a mobile toilet and having it come to the user.