page_title: Queue area
section_title: Design
hierarchical_section_title: Queue area / Types / Physical / Design
context_page_description: Queue areas are places in which people queue for goods or services. Such a group of people is known as a queue or line, and the people are said to be waiting or standing in a queue or in line, respectively. Occasionally, both the British and American terms are combined to form the term "queue line".
  Examples include checking out groceries or other goods that have been collected in a self service shop, in a shop without self-service, at an ATM, at a ticket desk, a city bus, or in a taxi stand.
  Queueing is a phenomenon in a number of fields, and has been extensively analysed in the study of queueing theory. In economics, queueing is seen as one way to ration scarce goods and services.
context_section_description: When designing queues, planners attempt to make the wait as pleasant and as simple as possible. They employ several strategies to achieve this, including:
  Expanding the capacity of the queue, thus allowing more patrons to have a place. This can be achieved by:
  Increasing the length of the queue by making the queue longer
  Increasing the size of the lanes within the queue
  Increasing the length of the queue 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 can be sectioned off and bypassed by guests if the queue is not crowded.
  "In-line" entertainment can be added. This is popular at amusement parks like Walt Disney World, which uses TV screens and other visuals to keep people in the queue area occupied.
  Secondary queue areas for patrons with special tickets, like the FASTPASS system used at Disney parks, or the Q-bot as used in Legoland Windsor.
caption: A queue outside a food market in Warsaw, People's Republic of Poland
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