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There's a reason I do mobile orders. I only use the drive-thru nowadays if it's literally the only way I can pick the order up, which doesn't happen often. More often I park and walk inside.
One of my pet peeves that I often see these days are places that have a super long drive thru line while *almost no customers are in the store.* How lazy and car dependent have we become? 😭You literally could order instantly without the wait if you just take one minute to park your car and walk inside. But people would rather wait +20 minutes if it saves them from walking even one step.
I feel like eliminating indoor seating at these places would make the drive thru demand (and the issues with backups) worse, because now you’ve removed any other options for people, and cars take up much more space than some tables and chairs.
Fr, Parking in a world with altered drive thru would be horrifying, especially if people do hang out, then there goes one of a few spots for maybe hours.
Most of the fast food near me has effectively already eliminated indoor options, esp if you don't want to use the app or the self service. Can't fine a person to order, hours inside cut sharply and so on.
My first thought when seeing that Chick-Fil-A is rebuilding locations with more drive thru lanes to meet demand is that it will have a similar effect as building more lanes on roads and highways. Increase in capacity is swiftly followed by increase in demand.
Me too. I’ve always hated that. They close the dining area before the drive thru, but the only way to access is with a car. It’s feels wrong. Like it shouldn’t be legal to deny people service based on how they get the the restaurant….
Worked at a fast food restaurant where, during covid, this older gentleman came through the drive thru on a motorized wheelchair. Me and everyone thought, "Ooh! No one's here! Let's clean this place up." Which we did until someone came to the door asking about whether or not we were ignoring the dude. None of us knew there was anyone there so we check our headsets to see if the batteries died on us and we didn't realize. Just to hear "wheelchair" and go "Wtf?!" All in all, that break was needed and saught after in that moment.
Usually the times where I go to a fast food restaurant and find the drive-thru queued up forever, I just go inside and order carryout. It's much quicker and more fuel efficient than waiting in a car line 10 vehicles deep.
Some restaurants prioritize drive thru orders and fulfilling them takes precedence. I tried walking in one time they fulfilled 6 drive thru orders that came after I ordered before they touched mine.
exactly, it baffles me that anyone prefers drivethrough when you have more than like 2 cars in front of the order section, especially these days when you can just use the app while parked and STILL have it delivered to your car, it's just a better version of drivethrough.
@@Jabid21 That may be true, but in a drive through you have to queue before you can even order. Inside the building there are electronic screens you can order on and there's always one available. So by going inside you join the food preparation queue much sooner than the person who stays in their car. (The only fast food restaurant I frequently use doesn't seem to do this, so maybe the reality is different from how I imagine it...)
As seen from a tourist: the walkable situation would be half as bad, even good, if owners were forced to connect parking lots with some simple walking paths.
We often have some paint or sidewalks in strip mall lots, but it doesn't mean much to most people; we just want to get the shop quickly. I work in a nice strip mall with decorated walkways, but I don't usually use them unless it's the shortest path. I just take a shortcut across the fairly empty parking lot.
@@GirtonOramsaythat’s usually bc the sidewalks don’t connect anywhere in suburban areas, only existing along main roads when most people live a far walking distance from those roads in neighborhoods
because the tables are dirty, the music is bad and too loud, there's kids running around and yelling, and sometimes the frying smell gets too much. in the car i have better ac, can listen to my own music or have a good conversation with my wife. plus the drive thru is a single line which is great. multiple lines are stressful and i always end up choosing the slower one. frustrating.
@@kjh23gk I don't myself understand why you'd use a drive through. Why would you want to risk dirtying your own car and eat, when you can just park and not have to think about the potential mess (other than your clothes). Even if you're bringing it home, I'll gladly take the excuse to get out of the car for like 15 minutes. Then again, my transport of choice is public transit. And I very seldom eat fast food.
I would do the curbside pick up, but I don't want to download 30 apps just to have every fast food place, even if they do rewards and I get free food or discounts. That's my issue with the mobile ordering feature.
5:02 "Seniors often hang out at fast-food restaurants" Yes! This is very true of my McDonalds, under the Ditmars Boulevard elevated station, and the Dunkin' Donuts around the corner. Those are where they hang out for hours and hours. And it's been going on as long as I remember. Then there are the kids who come after-school and do their thing, while waiting out the 15-minute McDonald's App wait-time to get more offers and discounts again.
I have a couple of coffee shops I go to when I'm working, and there are some people I see there most of the times I go. Often times, these are older people, and like you say, they're there when I arrive and still there when I leave.
Fond memories of visiting Hardee's with my grandparents. They would enjoy biscuits and coffee with their buddies. I leaned how amazing the Frisco sandwich is 🤤
(UK) Old folks here hang out in garden shops. They'll have tea and cakes as well as meals. It's a lot quieter for a bit of conversation and no hurry to free up seats.
The perfect world. Wake up in your house surrounded by a 2m fence. Go to your car with tinted windows in your garage and leave so you don't speak to your neighbours. Drive to a food place, interact with no-one. Eat the food inside your car, go home. You don't need studies to know suburbian car centric life is terrible. Get a bike, run into people on the street, have chats, organise meet ups, live like humans should.
As someone who works from home and has to deal with noisy neighbours, a 2m fence, not dealing with neighbours and not interacting with anyone when getting my food sounds awesome. And I live in Singapore.
Strange to include a privacy measure in the fence and tinted windows as part of this. I wish it was legal to cover up my yard and freely use my property without neighbours snooping
It's amazing how many people have social anxiety. Vicious cycle. I've seen people move out to the suburbs, 10 years later a lot of them are literally afraid of strangers
I can attest to older generations socializing in restaurant chains. When in middle and high school, after visiting the dentist, but before I would return to school, we would stop by Burger King. I would always see a group of older ppl, not related, catching up and talking about their lives. It’s nice to see that. I just wish my town had more than just crappy chain stores for them to find a 3rd place in.
Here in the Greater Seattle region, a lot of fast food places have adopted a new 'trick'. You order at the driver-thru, but then they wave you to the parking lot to wait for your food. Even if there's no one behind me.
One of the fast food restaurants near me stops in-restaurant dining after 8pm, but the drive thru remains open until 11pm. So instead of walking to the restaurant, getting my meal and walking home, I was incentivized to get into my car to drive 3 blocks and spend more time idling in a line than traveling.
good business decision. keeping the dining hall open at night is dangerous for the staff and wastes resources on a few customers. The loss of the dine ins is recoup in not having dining hall staff. capitalism is beautiful
@@cmdrls212 This is only an issue when you have too much of a couple of certain demographics living in your area. At my local McDonalds, of all the times I've ever gone there its almost always just one demographic of people that causes the most trouble and are looking for a fight.
I was working in Florida with a Swedish friend, and one day he decided we could try this American novelty of Drive-Thru Banking. It's still kind of neat, using pneumatic tubes to send physical cheques, but wow it was a lot easier to just park and walk up to an ATM or a desk.
I haven't seen a check for decades and I can't remember that last time I've visited the bank. I can't understand why they are still so widely used in the US.
I haven't used or even seen a cheque here in the UK for decades. And if I had to pay a cheque into my bank I would just take a photo of it on my banking app.
Paper cheque and pneumatic tube, things of the middle 20th century, so you can sit in your car with hurting knees instead of getting at least a bit of movement into your bones. That is so funny!
Drive thru is crazy if you think about it... Many foods can not be eaten practically while driving safely. In fact in many states you can be arrested for eating while driving. Eating in or carry out is preferred...plus you can wash your hands before eating. Another interesting trend is restaurants getting rid of dine in options...especially pizza places. This is a horrible idea though...again many foods aren't practical to eat in a car (like a pizza) and if you're on vacation or traveling, you might not have a local dwelling to use to eat the meal.
@@mausklick1635 i eat while biking lol (btw, i have nice bike paths, don't think i am a crazy guy who would enjoy eating while getting cars 3 centimeters on the left lol)
The drive thru is used to avoid shutting off the engine and wasting time walking in to walk back out and take it home. This allows for people that walk in to get their food faster as well as more parking space for cars and bikes. Your post is one massive strawman fallacy.
My problem with drive thrus is people always overorder. If you’re stopping for a quick coffee/snack it’s perfect. If you’re going to order 6 meals, drinks, and desert - then you should probably go inside and stop inconveniencing everyone else
but I'm not going to eat inside. I'm going to eat at home. If I am forced to eat inside, I'll just make food at home and they lose my purchase or I got to an actual sit down restaurant.
Used to be, people would figure out it was taking too long, and either go in, or just leave. I guess that’s why most new drive thru’s trap you). I got stuck behind two huge orders before. I drove up to the window and told the lady I didn’t want my meal now because it was cold. She started to object, but then felt the bag and realized I was correct. I also told her I would have left if I had not been trapped. I was firm, but polite. I got a fresh meal, and it was free.
The drive up only concept generally doesn't like pedestrian or bicycle traffic which is a shame. Put a few benches/tables outside with an umbrella, away from the existing drive through, and you can grab a quick bite instead of having to carry the food somewhere else. One teeny change I made is to always use a reusable cup for my drink. So I haven't gone through a drive through in a long time (except for during covid naturally). I park and go get my stuff.
I can't explain how frustrating it is when restaurants have only drive through and me driving a semi truck can't fit in there, not easily anyway. So I have to walk between 2 bumpers hoping I don't become a big Mac myself
We've been viewing buildings as disposeable for decades. As early as 1955, city planners levelled entire blocks to make way for parking lots and 12-lane superhighways.
Just going to say it yes! Drive thrus make getting to restaurants dangerous to get to on foot. Causes traffic jams, sound and exhaust pollution, and takes up valuable real estate in cities. And beyond all that is makes the front counter service miserable because drive thrus often get priority by company policy with workers being dinged if they take longer than a set time per car to go from order stage to them driving away. This is why I love going to big cities downtowns, where restaurant locations don’t have a drive thru and service is night and day better, extremely fast.
Yeah, I prefer to go inside to eat at places with drive throughs, but it’s very hard to get service and the order takes a long time for a “fast” food place. It’s very annoying these days…
@@cmdrls212 I’m all for that as long as the suburbs pay the full and share of infrastructure costs (roads, pipes, poles, wires, upkeep, snow clearing, etc) instead of paying lower property taxes and expecting cities and others in a region to pick up the tab. This is how cities go bankrupt. Roads and parking lots don’t pay taxes. 🤷
@@JohnDegurechaff urbanists want to ban solitude because you must talk to your neighbors and socialize every day like you're supposed to do. their lives need such trivialities and they cannot accept anyone who is not a yappy little social butterfly. It's crazy how they blame people for choosing to not listen to them yap about stroads lol
@@walawala-fo7ds We don't want to ban solitude. Walkability helps us introverts just as much as it helps people in cars, on bikes, and of course those walking.
Why not order on the phone, park on the side of the street, and then pick it up? Drive-thrus make sense in remote highway stops. I live 50 ft by ChickfilA in Las Vegas
Drive-throughs make sense in the densest of towns where there is not parking spot. Everywhere else just leave your friggin' car goddamit!! Why are Americans unable to walk 20m? Not to mention that using a drive-through is so inconvenient, sitting there in your metal box...
Over here in Germany some places have drive through, but they are so seldom used, that I seriously cannot recall to have ever seen one in use. I assume that some people are using them, else they would be removed. But as only few places have them, most people are used to going inside to eat or at least to pick up their food.
"Over here in Germany some places have drive through, but they are so seldom used, " I swear Europeans have two modes: Acting like these places dont exist, until people have to literally show them a Google satalite image of the place 2) Admitting they do.....but then pretending like "no one I know uses a drive-thru! It's like a completely mystery!!!!!!!!" I just looked up a random McD's in Germany: Am Falbenholzweg 4, 91126 Schwabach, Germany Zoomed in, and there are 4 freaking cars in the pick-up lane. Like, just STOP already.
@@xandercruz900 I didn't say that I don't know people using them. I said that I cannot remember them being used. But I also said that they probably ate used somewhat, else they wouldn't have been built. I live quite close to one and pass by often enough, but never see cars in the drive through but people inside the building. And I biked through Germany once with stopping at McDonalds for food or toilets or for shelter in the rain, multiple times. Drive through was always empty, tables full. Same at the place of my boyfriend. The supermarket where he mostly does groceries is beside a McDonalds that has a drive through. Never saw it used. And why do I only write about McDonald's? Because only they and Burger King and maybe KFC have drive through to begin with over here. If at all. But congrats. You found a place in Germany with 4 cars in a drive through. But then I doubt that anybody would make a video about the issue with drive through places that have 4 cars in the line. The video was about regular congestion because of drive throughs even with multiple lines. Which takes much more than 4 cars.
@@katzazi664 {"But congrats. You found a place in Germany with 4 cars in a drive through." Oh will you just LET IT GO. You guys have these places, and you guys use them. Like so what? You clearly just posted gross generalities based on that cringe need of Europeons to pretend like they are just so above our "dirty and backwards" American life. And when you get hit with reality, you just launch into a wall of cope. Hate to break it to you, but most drive-thrus in the US arent ":backed up with 2 lanes of cars, out into the road". The only place that is like that is basically Chick-fil-A (mainly when a new location opens), which is why it was used for this video or a McDonalds that is a frequent stop for charter buses. It is in no way "regular" to see anything like you THINK occurs. Your average Wendy's, Sonic, 5 Guys, BK, LJS, and a variety of places I see many times have 1-3 people outside of the morning/lunch/even rush, and even then it isnt that much more. where you are waiting some insanely exaggerated period of time. Just to be fair, I zoomed-in to a local Chick-fil-A in my area, next to a major highway, on a stroad, and there were 2 cars waiting.
I feel like this excessive over use of specifically the drive thru section of these fast food places is uniquely American. I wonder what has caused that and if some phycological triggers and health conscious triggers (food deserts obviously a secondary topic) could be at play to both reduce usage, to levels seen elsewhere in the world.
@@enchantedbananas that isn't really true. We used to have a mc donalds here with a drive trough. Then they opened a burger king with a drive trough maybe 500 meters away. 1.5 years later both went out of business because now they where sharing the customer base. And that is in a city of 250 thousand residents. The only mc donalds left is maybe 10km away. And there is a kfc i think. Those are the only fast food joints we have around here.
simple American suburbs are designed around driving car car everywhere and the drive through is on your route already AND you ARE driving add in the amount of time Americans spend at work / commuting to and from work leaving little time at home
i think we should make life as inconvenient as possible for cars - people use drive-thrus because they're easy. Restaurants like them because it increases customer churn and profit. It has to be said that drivethrus were a boon during the pandemic and a lot of fastfood chains have maintained their pandemic era dependence on drivethrus.
"we should make life as inconvenient as possible for cars" totally agree but i think it's best to phrase it the other way around: "make life as convenient as possible for walking, public transit and biking."
@@walawala-fo7ds agree the goal should NEVER to be making LIFE WORSE but making "other" options BETTER and the "WAR ON CARS" is MAKING IT WORSE for almost everyone as the current setup REQUIRES a car to be driven
@elemenopi55 no cause you can make things convenient without making it inconvenient for other people. The main comment here just hates people who like cars which is why I like cars even more.Cause I like hating people like him. Public transit is great though
Before the mobile order i'd get annoyed if someone ordered more than like $30 ahead of me because it felt like an unspoken rule that if you had a big order you go inside. Nowadays the drive thru is just how everyone goes through because they haven't discouraged the practice. I think a good stepping stone would be for restaurants to put a cap on what goes through the Drive Thru, but considering average riders per car doesn't seem to be improving IDK how it will go.
your cornell bit at the end is kinda just what i needed! just yesterday i realized that urban and regional planning is probably the place where i can do the most to help others, and bam! a great and trusted source recommends a great way to start! i’ll get looking :)
Consider a school besides Cornell. It's overpriced and recently it's become more and more apparent that the institution is motivated more by greed than by the betterment of the public.
I don't have a car. It was awful during COVID. If I had to eat away from home, I had to eat outside, even in the cold, even if there were no bench anywhere. It was a paradise for motorists and a dire situation for everyone else.
I agree. My old job thrived during covid and I still had to travel and stay in hotels without access to a car. Walking to restaurants only to be turned away sure did suck.
And it's the reason why so many people continue to drive after losing their license, even though it inevitably means they end up in jail, which ruins their lives and costs money for the state.
I have a disability resulting in my being Nonambulatory, my partner also being in a wheelchair means that it can be a true hassle for a single driver to get us both in and out of a vehicle, in and out of a restaurant, assuming the restaurant even has adequate accommodations at all. My point is, that for some of us, drive-thru is the only truly viable option. I agree with all of your points, and do think it would be "better" for most people to eliminate drive-thru dining, HOWEVER, I ask that you take a moment to consider who might be left behind. In addition to my situation, consider that many people use the drive-thru because they have multiple children in the car and only one adult, consider a single adult with an infant also managing to get 3 or more other young children safely in and out of the dinning room on the way to soccer practice. How would that person experience the loss of the drive-thru, and how would it impact the experience of those trying to utilize the 3rd space inside as well? I agree a solution should be found, but please do not offer a solution assuming that everyone has the same capability as you do.
More than once, I've walked from my hotel to a nearby fast food place to get dinner, only to find it was drive through only and I had to walk away again and find somewhere else to eat. I would be happy if drive throughs were banned everywhere.
Great video, your videos inspired me to go to school for planning and i graduate in may with a bachelor's in urban planning. My transportation planning professor has showed your videos in class before whcih has been cool. Keep up the great work inspiring future planners.
I don't know about Chikfila, but McDonald's has great deals for people willing to take the time and effort to seek them out. It's a form of market segmentation. If the list price doesn't bother you, you won't download the app, collect points, or seek out coupons. Doing these things (and ignoring the high-priced promos) can consistently cut 25% - 50% off the price of a meal. Also, they just buy less food.
I am in college and most people I meet don't know how to cook. There is a wealth of information available for free online but you have to make a dedicated effort to learn it, and a lot of cooking you have to learn by experience. It also requires kitchen space, equipment, and time. Many people just get locked into the habit of overspending on crappy food and don't escape. its hard to make a healthy choice when there's a drive-thru on every street.
The emissions issue might become one of the lesser issues as long as lines don’t move too fast. With the proliferation of auto-stop-start features on cars, it’s less of an issue than congestion from backups, crowding out pedestrians & bicyclists, or requiring people to cross car space to access the door. Good enough reasons to ban new drive throughs!
Part of the issue is that fast food companies are not penalized enough for traffic spilling out into the street. If a drive thru line is allowed to spill into the road, why would a business pay for a larger parking lot or open an additional location in the area? If steep fines are levvied on restaurants for cars blocking the road, they will fix the problem on their own. I do think that the drive thru model is outdated and inefficient though. With the amount of customer volume these stores want, there has to be a better way to handle it.
May I suggest you [US-Americans] equip your cars with fridge and deep-frying appliances, so you don't even have to struggle getting to the drive-thru at all. You could just sit in your car and eat anytime, anyplace. Wouldn't that be just gorgeous?
Unfortunately, the only real solution is reversing car-centric urban planning. If you ban drive-thru restaurants, but people still have to drive to get anywhere, either you eliminate that demand for restaurants entirely or you just keep up the minimum parking requirements and add more lanes.
Also, if they're going to make a floating kitchen with a drive thru in the center, why not a floating dining room? Seems suspect to me or at least a very short-sighted, cheap idea.
It's not about city banning drive throughs, it's about the laziness of people. In my family, people go out, use the drive through to buy the food, drive home and eat a half warm burger. I stay home, open the fridge, make some real food and am done eating when they are. But I had fun doing it and they had anxiety, stress, spent more and had horrible food. I cannot convince them to change. Also, the local Dutch Brothers is built in a way that cars will stopp on the 6 lane road to queue up for a coffee. Risking their lives to stand in that dangerous road to get a coffee. How stupid is that. Unfortunately, stupidity and laziness go hand in hand. It's not the cities fault all these third places die, it's our fault.
The real emissions problem is people showing up to schools and preschools an hour early running their car and waiting. In Houston most Chick-fil-As have three lanes and they move so quick
My immediate thought was "No, because then you'd just get overcrowding at restaurants and no-where to park, so companies would have to make more or bigger restaurants to accommodate it. The alternative is just having people accept that they can't get the food they want right now, which isn't going to happen." but then you get the issue of "But then if the restaurants inside AND drive through are backed up, then what?" which at that point becomes "The issue is that there are too many people." which is not really a sound observation in a problem like this if you're trying to fix what is essentially an infrastructure and city planning problem.
Isn't the whole point of fast food to get a quick bite while going between two "third spaces" or between work and a "third space"? The most typical for me is going from work to a game (of some sort).
Yessssssss please!!!!!! I work at a Chick Fil A, and sometimes work at the drive thru. And honestly I would love to have no drive thru. The line backs up all the way to the feeder and it's kind of annoying. I'm like, I would always park, get out of my car and order my food inside.
Now have all of those people shoved into the restaurant in a mob. None of whom want to be inside, and are just trying to get their food so they can drive home and enjoy it, or get to their workplace, but have to crowd inside the store just to order/get their food. Still want to be that guy?
@@xandercruz900 100%. Oh my god, you should honestly do a couple of shifts at a drive-thru at a weekend. I used to work at Starbucks and I dreaded working weekends because I know I will always come out stressed and aggravated. It's simply impossible to fulfill orders in a timely matter especially when everyone is ordering custom fraps and lattes; it's not unusual to have four drinks plus per each vehicle. At least with people mobbing inside customers can at least throw daggers at the those would order too many drinks at once
@@henrymorales9584 I worked at McDonalds in the late 90s.....during the evening rush. Occasionally did a 12 hour shift for extra money because coverage was short, and the generous free food I was given.
One thing not mentioned is that drive-throughs have a lot of cars idling their engines for several minutes which is wasteful and polluting. Of course this is eliminated in hybrid and electric cars.
Modern cars use between 0.5 - 1.5 liters per hour when stationary. Probably half to two thirds if the drivers uses their start-stop system. Don't get me wrong, it's still a waste, however, from my experience people tremendously overestimate the amount of fuel a car uses while stationary.
In addition to improving the drive thru they should make the dining area more appealing for families. Watch some 80s videos of mcDonalds when the dining room was packed, it was a lot of fun, it was culture, it was life! They could put in a roof-top area or something and incentivise using it. Instead of a traffic guard, hire an entertainer. Fun placemats, playground, all of that. Of course you need parking in car-centric areas.
can you have your culture and entertainers at a place designed for that instead of a private establishment that is staffed by underpaid miserable workers trying to get you in and out as fast as possible? not every place needs to become a social event. stop romanticizing the past.
Drive through lanes are redundant now that we have apps and the restaurants already have parking lots. The only difference is the employees have to bring the orders out. Seems better than waiting in an endless queue. Curbside pickup is smarter. Also, no waiting behind that one person who takes 10 minutes to figure out they want to order a small Coke.
All garbage food as well. The saying always go, "If you get your food through a window, you don't want to eat it." Around here in the desert, most fast food places are on pads within shipping centers to keep the drive-through traffic off the public streets.
You are aware that in basically every restauratn the food gets to you thourgh a window? it's just that someone else carries it for you instead of making a long arm in the drive-through.
I wonder if adding additional drive through lanes contributes to induced demand (e.g. one more lane) where it temporarily eases traffic, but then as people see the drive through looks less busy, they then start coming there more frequently and it just ends up getting bogged down again? I'm sure there is a delta somewhere that it would plateau, but just from my own observations, the Chick-fil-a restaurants near me all have two drive through lanes, and at least one of them still causes traffic to back up onto the nearby roadway.
Too many people are too lazy to get out of their cars and go inside, which is often faster. However I cannot help but wonder how banning drive-thrus affects those with disabilities. Or the convenience to parents with multiple children, easier to keep all of the kids inside the car.
Well it is more dangerous for those with disability trying to cross a sea of parking and drive thru lanes. Cars are not inherently disability friendly anyway. It depends what disability you have that determines whether it is helpful or useless. As for parents with a bunch of kids, I doubt it is an issue. The average family size in the US is nowhere near that size. It is a bit of a unicorn situation. And most likely there would be both parents if everyone is going out. Even if not, how do you have like 6 kids and all of them too young? I guess it is possible but that is pumping out lotta kids in a short time frame which makes this scenario even less likely. Considering the very measurable impacts on a daily basis, it far outweighs any concern for this very niche scenario. Even then, it isn't impossible to control 6 kids while getting food. It is just more convenient if they stayed in the car but not an impossibility. If they have two kids, they can definitely take them out of the car. Healthier that way anyways
@@neurofiedyamato8763 you are putting a lot of conditions on kids. Have you ever been around someone moving small children in and out of a car. It can easily be a 5+ minute affair each time. All it takes is one fussy kid to make the drive through more convenient. Two kids ages 0-4 years is not uncommon and adds a lot of time in getting them in and out. Disability friendly is a spectrum and depends on the disability. For many people, The act of getting in and out of the vehicle is something they want to minimize. Accommodation isn't a one size fits all.
The car = diability thing always confuses me. From all versions of transport cars ar the least elastic to disabilities. You can have walking canes, mobility scooters, trikes... all don't need any license and can be used easier than a car. The question is not how can disabled people get around without a car, the question sis how can we allow disabled peopel to only have the option to get around in a car?
In the UK, the drive thru lanes were often open 24 hrs while the restaurant is not. So when the restaurant was closed you could walk through the drive through lane. When drive thrus became more widespread (this was in the 2000s) they stopped people doing it. Drive thrus used to be pretty rare in the UK until about 15 years ago, now every suburban coffee or fast food chain seems to want one. I don't use them, I always find it quicker to just park and go in.
You mentioned the real answer but didnt stress it: curbside pickup With smartphones they can just do that instead. Drive thru is a convenience that will bring extra business if offered. For that reason, it will always thrive in the USA. Just need to improve it
A new Starbucks drive thru just opened next to my house and it is, of course, always crammed with cars waiting. So for a while I just figured I had to deal with it and wait in the drive thru. There was no indoor ordering after all. But then one day as I was sitting in my car waiting in the drive thru, I noticed a tiny window on the outside of the building. I quickly discovered it was an exterior walk up order window. NOBODY used it, most people probably didn't even realize it was there. So I tried using it, I walked up, ordered and just a couple minutes later, I got my drink. It literally took me about 2 minutes vs typically about 20 minutes in the drive thru. Now whenever I go to that Starbucks I only use the walk up window outside and it's always very quick. Plus I feel a bit healthier getting out of my car and walking to the window. It makes the order that much more rewarding.
Fast food is not as unhealthy as people say. Not walking is. Banning drive threes will improve health outcomes because reduced car usage not the food itself.
@@raaaaaaaaaam496 absolutely 💯% dead wrong 💀⚰️. Good diet is far more important than exercise if you had to pick just one. In fact, intensive exercise on a bad diet can lead to a very early death because your heart is working overtime with all the congestion in the veins and arteries. This happens far too often to gym enthusiasts well under 40. Fast food is like slow poison and no amount (or type) of exercise can possibly compensate. I've heard multiple health experts weigh up diet vs exercise at around 85/15 meaning diet is at 85 and exercise at 15. Experts may vary with their exact numbers but the consensus is that diet trumps exercise.
I don't eat fast food so it doesn't matter to me except the cars blocking actual road lanes is definitely a safety hazard. Shout out to the In N Out next to LAX.
I wouldn't be against cars. Their fine. Car dependency however is concept so abysmally retarded, it baffles my mind how society could have been accepting of this for so long knowing all the health concerns and studies that have been out for as long.
@@MustraOrdo I think cars should be an option, but they should be the worst option. Walking, biking, PEVs, and public transportation should all be more viable than cars.
I currently work at a McDonald's and while ~75% of revenue comes from the drive through, it's a place for Highschoolers to meet after school. When the dining room was closed during COVID the drop in business was noticeable and painful.
hot take, street parking is fine IF taxed dierctly by city (not free or contracted) and parking lots/garages are severely limited- mostly useful for business delivery
All fast food drive thrus in my area are designed where the line stays inside the parking lot with no nearby exits and lack of neighbors to solve this. Plus my city favors grocery stores over fast food. Theres grocery stores everywhere
I'm still amazed that once the problem became evident with the major offenders (Chick-fil-a, In-n-Out, Starbucks), local governments still made little to no effort to at least force these places to build on bigger lots that could accommodate the traffic they create.
This is the problem with car centered hellscapes. You will never have enough capacity with cars because they take up so much space and the more of them you use the more you need them.
Where I live the local Tim Hortons is a hangout for seniors. They buy one coffee and occupy all the seating for hours. That causes a massive drive thru lineup. Management will not kick the geezers out
My only problem with banning drive throughs is disability access. Unless the restaurant is willing to bring the food out to the car which none seem to be, Im not willing to mask up, get on my braces and go in and stand around for 20 minutes waiting for taco bell or in and out that I ordered on the app with a expected pick up time of 5:30... but hasn't even been started yet when I get there. Which happens 9 times out of ten when I order food for pick up on an ap or website. I can't tell you the number of times I have heard "Im sorry we are really busy today" only to have the person leave the counter and go start making my food while I wait.
Sounds like delivery would be a better option for you. Then you wouldn't need to mask up (?), get on your braces, get in your car, drive to the burger joint, get your food, drive back home, take off your braces. Do you expect all businesses you frequent to come out and serve you at your car?
@@kjh23gk to get delivery you have to pay an extra $15 plus a tip and wait an hour to as long as two hours in some cases. I'll just stick to drive through on my way past.
Restaurants should just get faster at serving. If you are upset about the dumb third space thing, you should realize all you are doing is trading moving cars for parked cars, I don't want more parking spots.
You touched on the issue of unintended consequences but didn't quantify the impacts (mentioning that people were willing to drive 20 minutes away from SLO to get to the nearest In n Out.) If city A has a drive through ban, city B may see that as an opportunity to host a drive through. Net emissions could therefore increase, if people now drive farther from city A to city B to get their fast food fix.
There's a popular local restaurant that has a ridiculously small drive through and the line would span blocks into a busy road that has a pretty high speed limit.
I acknowledge my privilege of living in NYC after all the new parks and recreation facilities including the progress of the East River Esplanade. Odd that so many cities in that 2005 IOC congress vote have hosted subsequent Olympics. Long Island City would have been interesting following the Olympics Village experience. [Not trying to turn this into a @SearchParty Comment]
While car dependence and related to it to some extend drive through are bad there is no need to ban drive throughs. Just ban queuing on the street/anywhere outside the restaurant property and send police with the itchiest fine writing hand to monitor the street during rush hour. Also limit how much of the lot can be used o car parking or drive through lanes.
1:53 I have been saying for YEARS that if we're serious about reducing emissions, we should ban drive-throughs except for pharmacies. Then came COVID and it no longer seemed like a good idea.
I don't get why people order at drive throughs. Take away food is messy and usually people like to keep their cars clean, because it isn't very easy to clean it up. So why do you want to eat in your car again? Don't you want to go inside and eat on a table like a civilized person? Maybe some day McD will also put a plate under my fries and hamburger, like a real restaurant.
Simple solution to backed up drive thrus ...... enforce a law saying you can get a ticket if you wait within public right of way in the street. Now the restaurants can still have business with cars waiting in their private space, and there's nothing they can do about the law
Oh yeah, cities are very much into banning: drive-through, apartment buildings, SROs, commercial establishments, ... In Palo Alto, there is a vacant commercial property because the perspective tenant wants the whole place, but the city requires the landlord to split it between multiple tenants. Soviet level stuff.
I grew up in a drive-thru ban city. Although, I think it was less “improving traffic and dining experience” and more “fast food is ‘low class’ and doesn’t ’fit the neighboorhood’”🙄
I've never understood the attraction of drive-thrus. Queueing at a counter in a fast food outlet is tedious enough, but queueing _in my car_ is a way worse experience, not to mention knowing how much petrol I'm burning through while waiting. And I don't want to eat fast food in my car and stink it out either. Go into to the building, and either get takeout and drive home or sit in the "restaurant" and eat it there. So much more efficient for all concerned.
"I've never understood the attraction of drive-thrus' See the people using them? there is your reason! People arent looking to stand around inside. They are picking food up to take home or on there way to work. And despite all the cringe "need to exaggerate" posts here, no you aren't waiting for 30-60-100 minutes in a "mile-long" line of cars "burning petrol" at some exaggerated rate. "Go into to the building, and either get takeout and drive home or sit in the "restaurant" and eat it there. So much more efficient for all concerned." You could just mind your own business? It isnt your meal, and no it isnt "more efficient". You just dont like people doing it there way.
I hate it the most when fast food prioritizes drive thru over dine-in orders (which is always). The time it takes me to get a simple meal, they would have served multiple people through the drive thru.
As a European native, I’m amazed that people are willing to create traffic jams just to pick up junk food. The time they spend sitting in their massive SUVs could be used to prepare a wholesome, healthy, yet simple meal. Fast food chains should be viewed in the same light as the tobacco industry: harmful, antisocial businesses. The low "entrance fee" is a disguise for the addictive unhealthy food being served.
"As a European native..." Oh gawd, here we go...... "The time they spend sitting in their massive SUVs could be used to prepare a wholesome, healthy, yet simple meal. " You seriously think people are in line for 45-60 minutes? Are you really that ignorant? "Fast food chains should be viewed in the same light as the tobacco industry: harmful, antisocial businesses. " Yeah.....so basically you just dont like them, and you cant express it in any logical way other than "it's like cigs, and I dont like that you dont socialize with strangers!!!". Which I find weird because Europeans smoke a whole lot, and you all bash Americans for being to "nosy" with our small talk.
Fast food chain restaurants contribute to the obesity epidemic. They are harmful and antisocial businesses, not because people don’t eat at a table (!) but because they undermine public health. Also, why are you so emotional about my comment? What did I say to trigger you into insulting me and calling me ignorant, when you’re the one lining up stereotypes?
@@xandercruz900 Fast food chain restaurants contribute to the obesity epidemic. They are harmful and antisocial businesses, not because people don’t eat at a table (!), but because they undermine public health. Also, why are you so emotional about my comment? What did I say to trigger you into insulting me and calling me ignorant, when you’re the one lining up stereotypes ?
@@Quies8 Ok? So do Ice Cream shops, steakhouses, bakeries, and farmer's markets. You eat too much stuff = you get fat (which I suppose means the whole 'healthy at any size' thing is no longer a thing?). Just because you cant control your eating doesn't constitute a justification in demonizing places where plenty of fit people eat on occasion with no problems. 'Also, why are you so emotional about my comment? What did I say to trigger you blah blah blah" The usual boilerplate Reddit level attempt at trying to shame people for having the nerve to reply to your public post. Cool story. Your OP was completely ignorant. Sorry. You dont want people to reply, then keep your thoughts to yourself. I dont care if people reply to me. I love the back and forth. That's what the REPLY button is for.
@@xandercruz900 It must be wonderful talking to you and being called ignorant every time there’s a disagreement. Keep up the good work fostering a hostile environment instead of healthy conversation.
Wow this is the first time ever my shitty little town has made it into a RU-vid video. The chick Fil a at 1:16 is in a small town in georgia. This is probably the most interesting thing the city has ever gotten, all there is to do is spend money shopping or eating, all of which involve driving. Kinda crazy to see my old town on a video haha, never thought I'd see the day.
I HAD to respond to this one. I was nearly a victim of the Greece, NY Chick fil a backup when I happened to visit days after it opened. I have family less than a mile from that location, my BIL was driving and almost rear ended the last car in line. He was really p!ssed. But I have long wondered about the utility of drive through service. I am an avid car fan but I am also a hypermiler and gave up drive throughs going on 20 years ago. I have often found it’s no faster than parking and going in, while not burning any fuel. Online ordering with pickup inside only adds to the question of drive throughs. I will say, though, that drive throughs do not in my experience really add hazards as far as lines, though. That incident above was the only time I have experienced a drive through out to the street until an In N Out opened in Texas, where I was a willing member of the line. A person likes what they line!!
Sadly, I doubt very many people park once at a strip mall and visit one or more stores and a fast-food place without moving their car. I would likely park once, but I've seen others drive to the other side of the parking lot rather than walk.
I knew some towns had banned chain restaurants and businesses, but I wasn't aware of drive thru bans. Great idea! And cool that SLO bans them. And yet another reason I need to move to SLO!
No, but cities should require the entrances to be accessed from a side street, and the restaurant should be fined when their drive-thru traffic extends onto the road. Fast food restaurants should be required to have enough area to hold the entire queue for their drive-thru on their own property. I can see having a drive-thru ban in a town center or an area with major foot-traffic area but not for full towns.
The problem with what you propose. 1) Most existing drive-thrus do not have adjacent side streets. They're either appended to strip malls on arterial/feeder main streets...or are stand alones on arterial/feeders. 2) You can never build a queue space for all the traffic that is large enough for all the cars. Drive-thrus are stupid land inefficient to start with...already only 5-10% of the lot space is used profuctively, and all the rest is car infrastructure....to do what you propose would require an entire adjacent strip-mall to be bulldozed jut to provide queue space for drive-thru traffic. And then because you built it for peak utilization, you have it sit empty 95% of the time with permanent infrastructure that cannot be used for anything else. Drive-thrus are just a terrible idea piled on top of lots of terrible ideas.
I live in Citrus Heights, Ca. We have 100 acres of dying mall at the intersection of two thoroughfares. Several years ago the city hired some consultants who, after months of research and community workshops, came up with a revitalisation plan for the mall site which included mixed use, dense housing, open space and even space for a college, all in a walkable pedestrian friendly neighborhood. The city passed the specific plan, and waited for developers to start making proposals. One developer DID buy a bunch of land, and next month will be making a pitch to change the specific plan. His plan has no housing, no open space, and SIX drive thru establishments right along the busiest street with the longest frontage the property has. I’m sick to my stomach over this.
first devil's advocate thought i can muster: so should we ban every high traffic causing private company? super markets often cause far more traffic issues in their local areas where I've been.. so by this metric.. What about schools? some of the single worst traffic nightmares I have ever seen were all near schools. ban those? This is a very very poor metric to be using by any means.
Nobody is saying to ban the company, just the bad behaviour. If schools create bad traffic, it is totally reasonable to ban vehicle pickups on the premises. Students can walk, take public transit, or be picked up off the premises.
