One bold New Yorker is going viral thanks to the genuinely useful tips she shares on TikTok about public restrooms around the city.
Teddy Siegel, 22, launched the "Got2GoNYC" account in 2021 after she nearly wet herself in Times Square.
"I was on the verge of peeing myself, and I got turned away from a few spots that told me their bathroom was staff-only, or that they didn't have one at all," said the Long Island native and aspiring opera singer. She finally found a McDonald's where she could use the restroom, but only after buying something.
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To avoid another moment like that, Siegel started making short TikTok videos documenting the free, clean restrooms she could use whenever nature called. "It was something I genuinely wanted for myself," she said.
Since then, her account has gathered nearly 100,000 followers, with plenty of people sending in their own tips about restrooms open to the public and even sharing door lock codes.
As of April 2022, her videos had racked up almost a million likes.
While a TikTok account might seem quirky, Siegel says it has let her and her followers learn a lot more about accessibility issues in New York. Commenters often share stories about how hard it can be to find a safe, clean, and free restroom.
One follower shared a story about using Got2GoNYC to find accessible restrooms while experiencing homelessness, and another described the struggle a Black delivery worker faced trying to find a bathroom at night, Siegel said.
"I've learned the most from my followers," she said. "It really drives home that this is such a public health and equity crisis."
To help, Siegel is teaming up with ClearPath, a nonprofit that provides resources to homeless youth in New York, to build a directory of accessible restrooms that people can use.
She also taps into TikTok's built-in features to make her videos as useful as possible for New Yorkers in a bind. For example, she created dedicated playlists to highlight restrooms that offer free hygiene products, include changing tables, and are gender-neutral. She also built a Google map where users can add public restrooms and edit the information themselves.
The popularity of her account is "a pretty huge wake-up call for New York, that they are miserably failing to provide sanitary and accessible restrooms to their people," Siegel said.
"It's always been an unspoken truth in New York that there are no bathrooms here," she said. "Every bathroom is literally locked, but it's illegal to relieve yourself in public, so what are people supposed to do?"
Even so, the response to Got2GoNYC hasn't been entirely positive. Siegel said a few of her videos have been taken down by TikTok, and she's currently under a temporary ban for violating community guidelines, though she wasn't sure exactly which ones.
And as for Siegel's favorite restroom in the city? She says it's the one in Bryant Park.
"It makes you feel like royalty," she said. "There's classical music, art, and fresh flowers," plus free hygiene products and "really lovely" attendants.
