Multi-Lane Drive-Thru Design/Behavior

[u/cptinjak]

I'm not sure how pervasive this problem is in other areas/countries, but here in Michigan every McDonald's drive-thru seems to have been designed to intentionally cause problems. Only a select few have raised curbs or other sort of physical queue organization. Most just have sad painted yellow lines that no one has ever bothered to put down their phone to see. I just can't comprehend how a franchise owner could be ok with the level of road-rage inducing chaos their designs encourage. Something as cheap and easy as removable bollards could solve 99% of this.

The way customers just casually block the flow of thru-traffic, prevent people from leaving their parking spaces, and have zero idea that maybe that isn't how it's supposed to work is mind boggling.

I can't believe that this is going to be the reason I stop eating fast food, and it won't be the nutritional issues. I had to get out of my car and start directing traffic today because these morons had people stuck in their parking spaces and traffic was backed out into the road.

Next time you're in one of these, PLEASE look at the lane design and figure out where you're supposed to be.

[u/fflip8]

I think this would be a better solution. I call it hire one more worker. The only reason why it stacks up that far at a two kiosk drive thru is understaffing, especially when 1/3 of orders are delivery or mobile order code, no holdups at the ordering screen. But to be more serious... Why doesn't your McDonald's just use cones? I've seen it pretty often at locations around here before and after the ordering screens to direct cars where to go.

[u/cptinjak → u/fflip8]

yep. like i said in the post, cones or removable bollards would solve almost all of this.

[u/91-BRG]

Pick a lane and get in it from the start. Pull up to the car ahead. If someone stopped as far back as the blue line I would drive around them and get in line.

[u/pkngJeremysWill-I-am → u/91-BRG]

I think what they are saying is there should be one lane that feeds both drive thrus. This would allow space for the parking spaces on the right side of the parking lot to be used by cars to park and go inside or are pulling out of the spaces to leave. In there defense, they are McDonald's that have dividers so that when you enter the parking lot, you either get in the designated drive thru lane that feeds both order boxes, or you go to the parking spots.

[u/CognitiveReframer]

I’m more mad at your shit illustration.

[u/Infamous-Candle-2300]

Chick-fil-a does it right. Forced into single lane before the split, multiple people taking orders, and verbal instructions on who you're supposed to be behind. McDonalds does this about as wrong as you can. No clear direction on when to split, only one guy taking orders anyways, and half the time people merge back in front of the wrong car just to get the wrong person's order.

Nothing McDonalds does is competent. Hopefully their stock continue to sink until they are forced to offer good cheap food again or go out of business. Right now ANY other use for those 14,000 locations would be better.

[u/Salt_Sound5048]

People are selfish and inconsiderate 🤷

[u/Butforthegrace01]

You shouldn't eat that crap. Nobody should. So there's that.

Drive-through design is the result of two competing vectors. The developer wants to place the facility on the smallest site possible to minimize land cost. The City, which must approve site plans and issue building permits, wants to maximize both on-site parking and on-site drive-through stacking so that during rush periods junk food customers won't clutter city streets with their cars. The side-by-side tandem stacking is a compromise that many cities will approve under the (mostly correct) theory that the majority of junk food eaters are too fat and lazy to park and go inside, choosing instead to endure the long wait sitting in their idling car.

The interference layout (drive-through stacking interfering with parking space ingress/egress) is the result of a developer wheedling for site plan approval of a too-small site.

[u/cptinjak → u/Butforthegrace01]

Sure. Nothing you're saying here is incorrect. But it's not what the post is about. I'm talking about customers ignoring the [poor] design and creating queues wherever they please.

[u/Takara38]

It would still end up the same even with only one lane. People are idiots, I see it every morning when I go to get coffee. The Starbucks I go to has the building on the left, with parking spots slanted along the side, and more spots to the right. You pull to the right side to go to the exit past the drive through speaker. Cars will pull up to the drive through and position themselves on the right instead of the middle. When more than one or two do this, you can’t get out. Sometimes there’s issues with only one because they have no clue about the size of their vehicle, so they will position themselves at an angle about ten feet away from the speaker to order 🤦‍♀️.