Political discussion No restrooms for Bad Godesberg train station
Bad Godesberg · The city administration says a proposal from the CDU party to build restroom facilities at the Bad Godesberg train station cannot be implemented. As well, they point out that such facilities are the responsibility of Deutsche Bahn.
Following the summer break, an absence of toilets at the Bad Godesberg train station is once again a topic of discussion for district representatives. Says the CDU political party, "The need for a restroom facility at the Bad Godesberg train station is undisputed and has been voiced regularly and vehemently by citizens for years now." Renovations at the train station and the subsequent improvements on Maternus Platz have opened up a window in which the project needed to be discussed again. One proposal was to house the restrooms in the new bicycle parking facility.
The city administration points out that it is the responsibility of Deutsche Bahn (German Rail) to provide restroom facilities. According to Deutsche Bahn, there is no interested party who is willing to operate pay toilets. “This is, according to Deutsche Bahn, due to the comparatively low number of users,” says the city. For its part, the city is currently creating a "concept of public toilets in Bonn". It is studying projects from other cities in North Rhine-Westphalia to see if they might be feasible for Bonn.
Operating costs would not be covered
The CDU had also proposed to cooperate with a restaurant or bakery in the station to provide restroom facilities. However, there is no obligation for the tenants in the station to provide restroom facilities due to their small size.
There was also the question about whether the installation of toilet facilities could be combined with the construction of a planned bicycle parking garage at the station. To this, the administration replied, “A standardized bicycle parking garage is planned, which was applied for with Nahverkehr Rheinland (Rhineland Public Transport). Toilet facilities are not included in this series type.” The construction of an integrated system would lead to considerable additional costs, which would also not be eligible for funding. Operating costs would not be covered by the municipal budget.
Last year, the Bad Godesberg district council unanimously decided to build a fully automated bicycle parking garage for up to 120 bikes on Von-Groote-Platz behind the train station. There will be twelve access points and the bikes are parked automatically on five different levels. The parking tower is expected to cost around 490,000 euros. On the Ria-Maternus-Platz, further covered parking spaces are to be built. (Orig. text: Bettina Köhl)
