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513:, colleges, restaurants, healthcare institutions, government offices and elsewhere have begun to be replaced by mobile queues or queue-ahead, whereby the person queuing uses their phone, the internet, a kiosk or another method to enter a virtual queue, optionally prior to arrival, is free to roam during the wait, and then gets paged at their mobile phone when their turn approaches. This has the advantage of allowing users to find out the wait forecast and get in the queue before arriving, roaming freely and then timing their arrival to the availability of service. This has been shown to extend the patience of those in the queue and reduce no-shows.
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298:. Each ride can accommodate a fixed number of guests that can be served at any given time (which is referred to as the ride’s operational capacity), so there has to be some control over additional guests who are waiting. This led to the development of formalized queue areas—areas in which the lines of people waiting to board the rides are organized by railings, and may be given shelter from the elements with a roof over their heads, inside a climate-controlled building or with fans and misting devices. In some amusement parks –
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A substitute or alternative activity may be provided for people to participate in while waiting to be called, which reduces the perceived waiting time and the probability that the customer will abort their visit. For example, a busy restaurant might seat waiting customers a bar. An outdoor attraction
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Increasing the length of the queue, sometimes by designing the line in a zig-zag shape that holds a large number of guests in a smaller area. This is used often at amusement parks. Notable rides have a large area of this kind of line to hold as many people as possible in line. Portions of the line
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Large stores and supermarkets may have dozens of separate queues, but this can cause frustration, as different lines tend to be handled at different speeds; some people are served quickly, while others may wait for longer periods of time. Sometimes two people who are together split up and each waits
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have come to employ virtual queueing techniques with the availability of application-specific pagers, which alert those waiting that they should report to the host to be seated. Another option used at restaurants is to assign customers a confirmed return time, basically a reservation issued on
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Having only one line, so there is no anxiety about which line to choose and a greater sense of fairness. Even though the average wait over time is the same, customers tend to notice lines that are moving faster than they are compared to other lines moving more
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in a different line; once it is determined which line is faster, the one in the slower line joins the other. Another arrangement is for everyone to wait in a single line; a person leaves the line each time a service point opens up. This is a common setup in
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Virtual queueing apps are available that allow the customers to view the virtual queue status of a business and they can take virtual queue numbers remotely. The app can be used to get updates of the virtual queue status that the customer is in.
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there may be a system whereby the queuer asks and remembers where their place is in the queue, or reports to a desk and signs in, or takes a ticket with a number from a machine. These queues typically are found at
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Waiting number ticket from the main post office of Prague 5 district, Czech
Republic. The tickets contains the specification "Letter services – mass submits" and shows that counters 8 and 9 deal with such.
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All of the above methods, however, suffer from the same drawback: the person arrives at the location only to find out that they need to wait. Recently, queues at
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selling merchandise or food. The alternate activity may provide the organisation with an opportunity to generate additional revenue from the waiting customers.
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Waiting queue call system in the Prague main post office. People have numbered tickets from a machine and are waiting until their number appears on a display.
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When designing queues, planners attempt to make the wait as pleasant and as simple as possible. They employ several strategies to achieve this, including:
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When the cursor hovers over the queue line options for a few seconds in the "Footpaths" window, a pop-up that says "Queue line paths" appears.
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in the
Houston, Texas airport, by moving the arrival gates further away so passengers spend more time walking than standing around waiting
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People experience "occupied" time as shorter than "unoccupied" time, and generally overestimate the amount of time waited by around 36%.
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252:. Carlyle described what he thought was a strange sight: people standing in an orderly line to buy bread from bakers around Paris.
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The technique of giving people an activity to distract them from a wait has been used to reduce complaints of delays at:
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893:"Could your practice's waiting area become obsolete? : Noteworthy – A Family Practice Management blog"
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Expanding the capacity of the queue, thus allowing more patrons to have a place. This can be achieved by:
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Putting up signs that deliberately overestimate the wait time, to always exceed customer expectations.
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Retail checkout, by placing small items for purchase so customers can continue shopping while waiting
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waiting to board a train. Queues for specific trains are marked by color-coded lines on the platform.
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Queues can be found in railway stations to book tickets, at bus stops for boarding and at temples.
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Queueing is a phenomenon in a number of fields, and has been extensively analysed in the study of
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being a prime example – queue areas can be elaborately decorated, with holding areas fostering
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797:"Your Wait Time From This Point Will Be . . . Practices for Designing Amusement Park Queues"
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160:.) Occasionally, both the British and American terms are combined to form the term "
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Elevators, by adding mirrors so people can groom themselves or watch other people
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In-line entertainment can be added. This is popular at amusement parks like
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can be sectioned off and bypassed by guests if the queue is not crowded.
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Physical queueing is sometimes replaced by virtual queueing. In a
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Secondary queue areas for patrons with special tickets, like the
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124:) for goods or services. Such a group of people is known as a
634:"QUEUE | Meaning & Definition for UK English | Lexico.com"
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Queues are generally found at transportation terminals where
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Managing
Services: Marketing, Operations and Human Resources
747:"Shirdi: Now, pay extra for VIP 'aartis' at Sai Baba temple"
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Places where people queue or "line up" for goods or services
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Hiding the length of a line by wrapping it around a corner.
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usage), and the people are said to be waiting or standing
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People lined up when boarding a suburban bus in Prague
775:"Ultimate Guide to Queue Management Systems in Banks"
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Other techniques to reduce queueing anxiety include:
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system used at Disney parks, or the Q-bot as used in
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For insight into the
British habit of queueing, see
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DMV’s New Line
Management System is Available Online
329:Increasing the width of the lanes within the queue
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719:"Many bus stops in Mumbai not in 'BEST' shape"
473:, virtual queues are also common in shops and
928:Redefining marketing in the multi-channel age
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171:or other goods that have been collected in a
105:A queue area at a food store in New York City
43:The examples and perspective in this article
616:. Scene: Footpaths window (normal gameplay).
294:Organized queue areas are commonly found at
497:with long virtual queues might have a side
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817:"Why Waiting Is Torture"
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148:, respectively. (In the
122:first-come, first-served
724:Daily News and Analysis
699:. Mangalore. 3 May 2012
917:Maister, D.H. (1988).
874:. Vator.tv. 2010-01-14
852:July 26, 2011, at the
667:"Why We Wait in Lines"
604:RollerCoaster Tycoon 2
562:LearnersDictionary.com
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118:Queue areas
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878:2010-09-23
781:2023-09-14
676:2018-01-19
648:2022-01-14
614:Infogrames
584:2018-03-18
549:References
439:town halls
358:Psychology
188:taxi stand
186:, or in a
162:queue line
142:in a queue
132:usage) or
71:March 2015
958:Rationing
696:The Hindu
484:arrival.
445:offices,
435:hospitals
238:, Denmark
234:queue in
199:economics
169:groceries
59:talk page
930:. Wiley.
850:Archived
517:See also
347:FastPass
277:security
217:Physical
184:city bus
138:American
53:You may
18:Queueing
629:queuing
499:marquee
431:doctors
404:Virtual
390:slowly.
222:History
158:in line
154:on line
146:in line
130:British
759:Mar 2,
731:Mar 2,
703:Mar 2,
671:Racked
505:Mobile
471:Sweden
449:, the
310:Design
236:Aarhus
206:scarce
203:ration
459:banks
285:banks
230:1943
212:Types
197:. In
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