SAN DIEGO — Restrooms have been an issue for years in downtown San Diego, and now one startup is attempting to capitalize on the lack of clean accessible restroom spaces available at all hours.

“Imagine the smallest corner of your room right, usually your bathroom, and the smallest interval of time like 15 minutes, just enough to freshen up, and we think that by showing them the future, they could understand how we think people should interact with spaces generally,” said Nancy Asare, the co-founder of Restspace.us.

Many downtown public restrooms have been overwhelmed by drug-use people with mental illness and sanitary issues. Asare says folks, especially families with young children, don’t feel comfortable, and paying $15 for a 15-minute break makes a lot of sense.

Hundreds of people have been signing up for the Restspace app just as it starts to make a name for itself.

Restspace recommends roughly a dollar a minute with the host keeping 70% of the fee and 30 going to the app.  

Imagine Airbnb, only with micro times and transactions. That is the goal the Restspace app is trying to create. 400 people have used Restspace and 40 new users signed up just this week.  

“Guests want to use it, the hosts want to provide the spaces, because we’ve all been in that position,” Asare said.

The Restspace app is starting with restrooms, but it is hoping hosts make their areas available for any and every activity as the app gains traction.