Welsh commuters shunt train travel due to dirty bathrooms

It’s not just rising rail fares and delayed trains putting the Welsh public off travelling by rail. According to new research by Airdri, 51% of Welsh commuters have encountered dirty bathrooms on their journey. That’s more than 10% higher than the national average and a worse rating than any other UK region. 

Well over half of those interviewed from Wales (57%) also stated that they wouldn’t return to a venue where the bathrooms were unclean. Again, much higher than the national average at 52%. Bad news for government and campaigners trying to keep on track with aims for more people using public transport. 

Overall, in the UK, 40% of rail travellers have encountered dirty bathrooms on their journey, a higher percentage than any other type of venue with a public toilet. 

Where Welsh train station toilets were the worst to fare regionally, Yorkshire and the Humber had the second worst hygiene standards (48%), followed by 46% of travellers finding dirty loos along their trip in the North East.  

In contrast, hygiene in Northern Ireland was found to be the best, with 79% of visitors avoiding dirty toilets as they travelled in this region. 

On the railways, women’s toilets were found to be dirtier than men’s, 43% of females reported unsanitary bathrooms versus 37% of males.

The importance of clean toilets was also highlighted in the survey by Airdri, makers of the new, ultra-hygienic, first of its kind, hybrid hand-dryer-sanitiser called PureDri, as it revealed that 28% of customers would tell their friends and family not to visit a venue that had dirty bathrooms. A further quarter would avoid returning altogether. Read the full survey results here: https://airdri.com/blog/the-dirty-truth-about-britains-public-bathrooms/  

And those expecting cleaner toilets thanks to the pandemic will be disappointed, 36% of all respondents said that half or more of the public bathrooms they’d recently visited were dirty. 

Steve Whitall, Chief Operating Officer at Airdri said: 

“Governments and environmental campaigners alike are continually attempting to get more people using public transport. Travelling by rail means less cars on the road, less pollution and cleaner air for all. However, more needs to be done to make rail travel more attractive to commuters, and according to our survey, the toilets are a huge problem.  

“Train station bathrooms were the worst offenders in our survey, ranking more highly than supermarkets, shopping centres and even nightclubs and bars for the number of dirty bathrooms. For travellers in Wales the picture looks particularly murky. 

“For those trying to entice travellers back to the railways, as it stands, it appears dirty bathrooms could be the issue to derail their plans.”  

To help regain public confidence and reduce the spread of infectious disease, engineers at Airdri have developed the concept of the first-to-market, PureDri hand dryer unit which combines a powerful hand dryer with best-in-class air and surface sanitising technology.  

The PureDri provides a unique triple action defence against the spread of bacteria, mould, viruses, and odours in washrooms – it reduces risk at every stage, as well as resulting in a cleaner, fresher, and more sustainable washroom environment. 

To find out more visit: https://airdri.com/puredri/