Abstract: A vacuum toilet system comprises a small number of toilet bowls, a sewer, a small number of normally closed sewer valves connecting the toilet bowls respectively to the sewer, a sewage collecting tank in open communication with the sewer, a vacuum generator having a suction side in open communication with the sewer and operative to generate a partial vacuum in the tank and sewer, and a flush initiator associated with each toilet bowl for generating a toilet flushing impulse. A control unit is responsive to a toilet flushing impulse generated by the flush initiator associated with a given toilet bowl to cause the sewer valve connecting that toilet bowl to the sewer to open and the vacuum generator to operate for a predetermined time. In this fashion, a partial vacuum is generated in the tank and sewer of a level that depends on the free vacuum volume of the system.