The women's restroom at the Ronstadt Transit Center, the Downtown hub for city buses, was missing a soap dispenser.

Kim Smith / arizona daily star

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A Tucsonan who regularly rides Sun Tran buses complained about the condition of the women's restroom at the Ronstadt Transit Center, 215 E. Congress St.

At first, the soap dispenser was left empty. Then it was left hanging off the wall by a wire, and now it is completely missing, the woman said. Just as aggravating is getting water out of the faucet. The center's plumbing requires users to hold the water button continuously, making washing both hands at once impossible.

With the emergence of MRSA and other communicable infections, public facilities have an obligation to provide proper sanitary facilities, she said. But numerous calls to Sun Tran over more than a year yielded no results.

Sun Tran General Manager Katrina Heineking said her office has received a single complaint about a lack of soap at the Ronstadt Center. It was received three or four months ago and it was unwarranted, Heineking said.

Monday was the first time she was made aware of a missing soap dispenser, Heineking said.

The soap dispenser will be replaced immediately, and the other two transit centers will be inspected to ensure that they still have their soap dispensers, Heineking said.

The water faucet is a cost-saving measure, Heineking said.

"There are a lot of people, for whatever reason, who want to leave the water running, and they'll just walk away with it running," Heineking said.

CTJ Services, which holds the janitorial contract with Sun Tran, is on the premises of all three transit centers from 6 a.m. to 11 p.m. daily, Heineking said.

The other two centers are the Roy Laos Transit Center, 205 W. Irvington Road, and the Tohono Tadai Transit Center, 4540 N. Stone Ave.

"We need to make sure that our janitorial staff tells us when property is gone so that it can be replaced," Heineking said. "We can't replace it unless we know, and the public shouldn't have to tell us when something is missing."

Taxpayer Watch update

Last Tuesday, Taxpayer Watch reported on two locations near East 22nd Street and the Pantano Wash where water tends to collect, even between rains.

An inspector with the city's Department of Transportation visited the area Wednesday to apply larvicide but found the drainage way had dried between the initial visit on June 2 and the return visit Wednesday.

Inspectors will add both areas to the list of spots to check after it rains and apply larvicide regularly in the future.