The Loo Queue – Minimizing One of the Worst Waits for Ladies

Oh, the dreaded women’s restroom waiting line. As their male counterparts come and go quickly and rarely have to endure a wait, women are unfortunately all-too-familiar with the waiting lines they are subjected to at the mall, a sporting event, concerts, parks, just about everywhere. The fact is, a woman’s needs require that they spend more time in the bathroom. Studies suggest women take twice as long, on average, in a public restroom. To combat these lines there has been a movement toward potty parity for women in federal government buildings. And in Hong Kong, laws require more space dedicated to female than male toilets. Perhaps breaking down walls and building more bathrooms is the ideal solution, but it’s not the most financially friendly. Some engineers are tinkering with virtual-queue-friendly methods that use a Raspberry Pi computer and LED lights to notify people when at least one bathroom stall is free (kind of like the little “occupied” light on planes). Clearly, many solutions to “loo queuing” will require bathroom redesign or the installation of more stalls. Until bathroom equality truly come to pass (or men’s rooms are better equipped with diaper-changing tables), businesses should consider a contingency plan to minimize bathroom lines for their female customers. Here are a few ideas:

• Display signage that identifies the location of bathrooms and alternate facilities. For example, if a restroom is near an entrance or exit or another popular section of a facility, they’ll get the most use. Direct ladies to a bathroom in a less busy section of a building and many will be willing to walk, just to avoid a line.
• Use gates or stanchions to create two lines for bathrooms – one for “regular” women and one for pregnant women or moms with kids – where people take turns from line to line to use the bathroom (similar to double car wash lanes). While everyone will still have to wait, at least the moms with more pressing matters can cut their wait in half.
• For especially busy facilities, it may be worthwhile to have an employee monitoring bathroom queue activity, escorting pregnant women or mothers with kids to the front of the line at their discretion… green-lighted line-jumping. Just make sure you display signage that explains the rules so there isn’t a bathroom mutiny.
• Employ queue monitoring technology to count the number of people in a given bathroom line and send staff out to deploy people to an alternate facility.

Bathroom waits are no fun, no matter what the situation. Help make your lines more efficient and you’ll earn the respect of both your female customers and those who wait for them to return from the loo. Brainstorm with a Lavi expert about queuing solutions for your restrooms.