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When nature calls, Boston runners, tourists and commuters are often hard-pressed to find a public bathroom.

The big picture: They became harder to access in the past two years, due to pandemic-related closures — as my friend Max Grinnell learned when he did a survey last year.

Why it matters: "If you're a delivery driver or you're a parent with a toddler or just a normal person who needs to go to the bathroom, there isn't an easy way to find out where one is," says Amith Saligrama, a rising junior at Commonwealth School who developed his own map of public bathrooms in the Boston area.

Flashback: Boston installed one of the nation's first public toilets in 1860 because working-class men were urinating on the streets, causing public health concerns.

These same disparities emerge when people rely on privately owned bathrooms in public-facing spaces, such as when two Black men were arrested after trying to use a Philadelphia Starbucks bathroom in 2018.

How to find bathrooms: Saligrama's site lists public bathrooms across Greater Boston.

Plus: There are bathrooms by the public pools, as well as the shipping-container-turned-bathroom in Boston Common.

The bottom line: Boston has public bathrooms; you just need to know where to look.

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