Toilets will be added to only three more MTR stations in response to passenger demands for more public facilities - at Prince Edward, Quarry Bay and Ngau Tau Kok. All three will be on the ground level outside station entrances, not at the platform level.
Announcing improvement works yesterday, the MTR Corporation said their construction would cost about HK$13 million and be completed within 12 months of obtaining government approval.
MTR deputy operations director Li Yun-tai said it was not technically feasible to build toilets at the platform level.
'Most MTR stations built in the 1970s and 1980s were designed without considering the need for public toilets,' he said. 'It's not likely that toilets can be added at the platform level, because there are no independent ventilation systems or enough space on the platforms. The pollutant discharge system is inadequate as well.'
Forty of the 82 stations on MTR lines have public toilets, and toilets are available in shopping malls near 39 stations.
The MTR's toilet situation looked much worse before the merger of operations with the KCR, because most of the 40 stations with toilets were part of the former KCR network.
