From Iceland — Considering Toilet Fee

Considering Toilet Fee

Published July 20, 2012

A shop owner in Borgarfjörður has grown weary of tour buses stopping at his shop for the sole purpose of letting tourists use his bathroom.
Baula, the shop in question, is a minor Route 1 landmark of sorts – a circular shop with a steeple-like peak perched atop of it, it has sold many hot dogs, drinks, and other supplies to the road’s travelers. The place is well known to anyone who has traveled Route 1, apparently to the shop owner’s chagrin, DV reports.
Drivers of tour buses will often, as a matter of course, stop their buses at Baula to let tourists use the bathrooms there. Kristberg Jónsson, the owner of the shop, is less than pleased with the practice.
“I’m getting pretty irritated with these piss buses,” he told reporters. “I naturally can’t stand it when 50 – 60 people walk in here, use the bathrooms, and then walk right out. Something needs to be done about this.”
Kristberg is considering establishing a fee for using the toilets. “It’s not a given that you can travel the country’s highway and use the toilets for free,” he said, adding that in his travels abroad, “We didn’t use the toilets at a country’s highway shops without paying for it.”
How much the fee will be or when it will go into effect was not mentioned, but readers who do stop at Baula to use the bathrooms are advised to also buy something from the shop.

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