Portable toilets for closed Philadelphia streets, with the block party and festival closure rules that decide where units can stand.
Fastest: call (888) 351-0294. Or send this and we call you back.
A block party or street festival in Philadelphia runs on a street closure, and the closure rules shape where toilets can go. Block parties need the applicant to live on the block and 75 percent of households to sign off. Philadelphia Porta Potty Rental connects you with an independent local provider for the units; ask for a written quote.
A block party is the most Philadelphia of events: a rowhouse street closed to cars, tables down the middle, kids on bikes, and a crowd of neighbors who live within a minute of their own bathrooms and still do not want to keep knocking on each other's doors. At a street festival the problem is bigger and nobody lives on the block at all.
Philadelphia Porta Potty Rental is a call line that connects organizers with independent local portable-sanitation providers. When you call (888) 351-0294, describe the street, the date and the crowd, and the line routes you to a provider who delivers the units, services them and collects them when they have units free. The line does not file your closure application and does not decide whether a toilet may stand in the road.
This page walks through the two kinds of closure, what each means for toilets and where units can stand on a narrow rowhouse block. Everything about city rules here is what the city's pages say, and the organizer confirms what applies to a specific date and street before ordering.
The applicant must live on the block and apply at least 21 days ahead. Seventy-five percent of households on the affected blocks must sign off. The fee is $25 if you apply three weeks ahead, otherwise $60. 'T' streets need a petition, and the police district reviews the request.
Those are the city's block party page rules as found for this site. Confirm them with the city before you rely on them, because details can change and a specific street may have its own conditions.
Notice what is absent: the city's block party page, as sourced for this site, does not say how many toilets to rent. That is a question for you, your neighbors and the provider. The block party and street festival guide gets into it.
A street festival sponsored by a business or organization, or held on a major arterial or commercial corridor, applies to the Department of Streets for a festival street closure. It is not organized by a resident of the block, and it is bigger. The special event application also asks for the total number of portable restrooms.
For anything that counts as a parade, festival, run or regatta, the Office of Special Events is the city's one-stop shop. A public event also needs a Department of Public Health permit for portable chemical toilets, at $50 per location, and about 10 to 14 days to receive it.
Plan the toilet order around those dates. The permit takes more than a week, the closure takes longer, and providers confirm units for a date only when they have some free.
On the road inside the closure if the city and the provider agree, near the middle of the party, with a gap kept for the service truck. Keep units off pavements, driveways and doorways. Ask the provider whether the closed street gives the truck room to reach and turn.
Philadelphia's rowhouses sit on narrow lots along gridiron streets, and a delivery truck has little room. On a closed block the road is the widest space available, but the truck needs to get in before cars are blocked and out before the barriers go away.
A pavement placement is a different matter: it narrows the walkway and needs the owner's or the city's permission. The rowhouse page covers pavement and driveway placement for jobs. For a party, the road inside the closure is the natural place.
Never move or empty a unit yourself, and do not let children climb on one or play near the service truck. The provider places and services units. If a unit is blocked in by a car, a barrier or a table, call the line.
A block party is organized by a resident of the block. A festival sponsored by a business or organization, or on a major arterial or commercial corridor, goes through the Department of Streets as a festival street closure. The two have different rules and different timelines.
The city decides whether the street can close. Do that before you order any units, because a closure that is refused makes the order pointless, and a provider confirms units only for a date and place that exist.
Give the provider the street, the closure hours, the crowd and the layout. Ask what the delivery route will be if the street is closed when the truck arrives.
Put them near the middle of the party, not at the dead end, with a gap kept clear for the service truck. Stay out of driveways and doorways, and keep the pavement open.
Agree a collection time that comes before the closure ends. A unit left standing on a reopened street is a problem for the organizer and the neighbors.
Organized by a person who lives on the block, usually with a few units, a handwash station and a plan for the one or two houses that offer their bathroom. A few well-placed units tend to work better than a single one at the end of the block.
Organized by a business, a community group or a corridor association, with a Department of Streets closure. Crowds are larger and may cover many blocks, so the answer is clusters of units along the route, plus accessible units and handwash stations. See the event page for crowd planning.
Food stalls make a handwash station a necessary part of the setup. A route that spans several blocks may call for a restroom trailer at the busiest end.
No provider price is printed on this site. A block party, with its few units and a short day, is a smaller order than a festival with a long route, but the same lines appear on the quote. The cost guide explains each.
| Job | Typical range | What it includes |
|---|---|---|
| Units, by type | Priced per unit | Standard, accessible and handwash units are separate lines in published guides. |
| Closure application fee | Paid to the city, not the provider | A block party costs $25 if you apply three weeks ahead and $60 if you do not, according to the city's block party pages. |
| Delivery on a closed street | Often its own line | Tell the provider how and when the street closes, since the truck must reach the units. |
| Servicing during a long day | Set in the quote | A short block party may need only the scheduled visit. A festival that runs into the evening may want more. |
Rental prices are set by the independent provider and confirmed in writing. The block party fee above is the city's, not Philadelphia Porta Potty Rental's, and the organizer confirms current fees with the city.
Most street festival and block party toilets calls are scheduled the same day when a technician is free, and you approve the price before any work starts.
Germantown Avenue carries street events in Germantown, including the October reenactment at Cliveden on the first Saturday of the month, when more than 300 reenactors muster along a two-block stretch. Street events there need a Department of Streets festival closure application, and a public-event portable toilet needs a Department of Public Health permit.
In South Philadelphia, the Italian Market on 9th Street and East Passyunk Avenue are busy corridors, and Odunde fills about 15 blocks around 23rd and South Streets. Many Mummers clubs are based on South 2nd Street in Pennsport, and the Mummers Parade is on January 1, so any winter street event there means asking the provider how a unit is handled in freezing weather.
Across the river and in the suburbs, closures run through the municipality. Collingswood's Book Festival fills more than six blocks of Haddon Avenue, and Media closes State Street for Dining Under the Stars on Wednesdays from May to September. Check with the borough or the township, because this page's city rules are Philadelphia's only.
Portable toilets for Philadelphia events of every size, with the city permits and the crowd questions an organizer has to answer first.
Freestanding portable sinks to sit beside your toilets at Philadelphia markets, festivals, block parties and job sites.
Portable toilets for route-based Philadelphia events: parades, runs, marathons and bike races on closed streets.
Not sure if you're covered? Check your ZIP code.
For a public event, yes: the Philadelphia Department of Public Health issues permits for portable chemical toilets.
A Philadelphia block party is applied for by someone who lives on the block, at least 21 days ahead, with sign-off from 75 percent of households on the affected blocks.
Yes, according to the city's block party page: the applicant must live on the block. Seventy-five percent of households on the affected blocks must sign off, and the police district reviews the request. If you are a business or a group, a festival closure is the route.
At least 21 days ahead, per the city. The fee is $25 if you apply three weeks ahead and $60 if you do not. Order toilets once the closure is on track, and call the provider early, since units are confirmed only when the provider has some free.
The city's block party page says 'T' streets need a petition. This site does not define the term beyond that, so ask the city what it means for your street and what the petition requires before you plan the date.
Only with the owner's or the city's permission, and it narrows the walkway. On a closed street the road inside the closure is the usual place, if the city and the provider agree. Ask both before the day.
That is the organizer's call, and neighbors with mobility needs may use the block. Ask the provider about an accessible unit and a firm level spot. The accessible units page explains what to ask.
The organizer. The Department of Public Health issues permits for portable chemical toilets at public events, at $50 per location, and does not supply the toilets. You rent them from a company. The provider can give you the unit count and type for the form.