Queue area

Queue areas are places in which people queue (first-come, first-served) for goods or services. Such a group of people is known as a queue (British usage) or line (American usage), and the people are said to be waiting or standing in a queue or in line, respectively. (In the New York City area, the phrase on line is often used in place of in 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.

Types of queues

Physical queue

Organized queue areas are commonly found at amusement parks. The rides have a fixed number of guests that can be served at any given time, 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 – Disney Parks being a prime example – queue areas can be elaborately decorated, with holding areas fostering anticipation, thus shortening the perceived wait for people in the queue by giving them something interesting to look at as they wait, or the perception that they have arrived at the threshold of the attraction.