There needs to be infrastructure for true public restrooms in urban areas.
Uber et al needs to make mandatory access to its drivers a condition of doing business with the food service.
They should treat it like the Supreme Court recently treated homeless people camping on the sidewalk. They have a biological need for somewhere to sleep; if the city cannot provide enough places for them to sleep, they must allow them to camp on the sidewalk. In this case, if there are not enough public restrooms, public businesses (i.e. open to the public, not publicly traded) must allow non-customers to use their restroom.
It seems crazy to me that a) we know everyone needs to use the bathroom, b) there are no requirements for access to restrooms (beyond ADA stuff), c) urinating or defecating in public is illegal. I don't find it crazy that urinating or defecating in public is illegal; I find it crazy that we've put ourselves in a spot where it is possible to be put in a position where there is no legal means for you to carry out a biologically required task.
These poor drivers are just getting caught in the crossfire of the class war between restaurant owners and delivery companies, and are being deprived of human dignity as a result.
I think there's also an unintentional sexist effect here. The article keeps talking about people peeing in Gatorade bottles. I'm a male, so I could be wrong here, but that doesn't seem like a viable option for women. Women have another needs for the bathroom as well. I can't imagine putting in or changing a tampon in the car is an easy or pleasant experience.
And lastly, do you really want your food delivery driver to be making a choice about whether they want to pay $1 to use the bathroom where they can wash their hands, or just peeing in a bottle and going around with dirty hands? I would strongly prefer that wasn't a choice they considered. I will happily pay another $0.25 or whatever that goes to the restaurant to cover paying for the water, toilet paper and soap they use to remain hygienic.
You also, and for the same reason, object to selling food, right?
Otherwise Starbucks has become the national public restroom, which their president commented on in print a while back:
Starbucks: No Purchase Needed To Use The Restroom
https://www.npr.org/sections/thetwo-way/2018/05/11/610337214...
The most egregious example that doesn't have a restroom is the downtown Market St. McD. Tourists literally ask for one every 10 minutes there, get told no, then it quickly dawns on them they have a serious problem to deal with.