I don't think I've seen a public bathroom in America in my lifetime. They're all privately owned, usually required through regulation.

But to answer your question, public things are paid for by the public.

Never been to a public park with a bathroom, or a state provided highway rest stop?

Many transit centers are owned and operated by a municipal transit agency and typically have restrooms, especially large airports and train stations.

Public parks and transit centers make sense. I was thinking more in urban areas, not large public land. For example, if I was in a town and needed to go to the bathroom, usually the only option is hoping a business will let you use their restroom.

We've got a ton of actually-public restrooms in my neck of the woods (in Ohio).

Public rest areas are pretty common along major highways and these include restrooms.

Publicly-owned parks usually provide a place to poop, too: Sometimes it's an installation with composting toilets, sometimes it's just a seat over a septic pit that needs pumped out periodically. Sometimes, it's fancy with flushing toilets and sinks for handwashing. Other times, it's just a rented portajohn (that may be full of spiders and smell like death, or be very tidy). And sometimes, they're locked at night when the park is closed. But -- usually -- public parks of any substance offer something for facilities.

Just last week, I worked next to a public park in a very small town (population ~2,000) with some well-maintained basketball and tennis courts. There were a couple of portajohns present. (I did not investigate them further.)

And when there's a major events that draw crowds, like our very public fireworks displays in downtown areas: Temporary restroom facilities are provided.

What we don't have very much of here are permanent, literal-public restrooms in the denser parts of cities. That is very problematic, but it is slowly improving[1].

[1]: https://downtownservices.org/news-article/three-public-restr...

> I don't think I've seen a public bathroom in America in my lifetime.

You've never been to the beach, a city park (or state or national park), a highway rest stop, or any of the thousands of other places public restrooms exist?

What a weird take...

Its not a take, it was a personal observation that ive since realized is wrong because I wasnt considering bathrooms on large public land, I was thinking about small plots of public bathrooms within large urban areas. Obviously publicly owned airports have bathrooms.

I was also not considering things like port-a-potties during public events, since i was only considering permanent structures.