Managing Pedestrian Queueing Systems: Adding a Counter or Providing Guidance?

In real-world environments with multiple service counters, two common types of queueing systems are typically employed: the parallel queueing system, where each counter has its own queue, and the serpentine queueing system, where a single queue serves all counters. Although traditional queueing theory generally favors the serpentine system for its efficiency, it often overlooks the impact of delay effects. In large serpentine queues, pedestrians must walk a considerable distance from the head of the queue to the assigned counter, introducing additional latency. Furthermore, we often observe that pedestrians at the head of the queue frequently hesitate to proceed to newly available counters, largely due to limited situational awareness. To better account for these dynamics, we developed a delay-introduced queueing model that more realistically reflects pedestrian movement and behavior. Our analysis indicates that under high arrival rates, the parallel system can outperform the serpentine system in terms of average waiting time. Additionally, when queues grow long, deploying guiding staff to reduce hesitation and improve flow at the front of the queue proves more effective than merely adding another counter. These findings underscore the importance of integrating spatial and behavioral considerations into the design of pedestrian queueing systems.