In the Seventies I remember reading of something called the Committee to Eliminate Pay Toilets In America. It announced its disbandment when one state enacted a ban. Perhaps people found that pay toilets were not in fact cleaner as a rule than freebies. There was not much competition in the market.
San Francisco has a few public loos, on the street in tourist zones. Before they were installed, there was bitter controversy over their design: it would be unthinkable not to accommodate wheelchairs, but that would make them big enough for drunks and junkies to sleep in. If memory serves (it's often faulty) this was resolved by giving them a price and a time-limit; as first conceived, they were to be supported entirely by advertising. -- Anton Sherwood, http://www.ogre.nu/
