Curb Congestion in the Ride Share Era: A Good Problem to Have

Do you remember the days before ride sharing was a thing? Before companies like Uber and Lyft were doing their stuff, business owners rarely had to deal with lines of cars temporarily parked up against the curb. How things have changed. Thanks to the ride sharing phenomenon, a lot of businesses are now struggling with curb congestion.

Curb congestion is a good problem to have. We say that in the sense that curb congestion represents a lot of visitors. More visitors mean more opportunities to acquire paying customers. So rather than implementing curb congestion solutions that keep visitors away, companies should work on figuring out how to manage it to accommodate even more visitors down the road.

Some Businesses Are More Susceptible

We have been offering pavement services long enough to know that some businesses are more susceptible to curb congestion than others. For example, curb congestion isn’t much of a problem for manufacturing property that sees very few off-site guests. On the other hand, it can be a big problem for restaurants, bars, and other hospitality businesses.

Curb congestion occurs mainly during a business’s peak operating hours. It is the result of too many guests coming and going at the same time. Let’s look at an example by way of a multi-screen movie theater. At peak operation on a weekend evening, there could be five or six screens accommodating two or three films throughout the entire evening. Traffic in the parking lot is continually coming and going.

Imagine all those teenagers getting to and from the theater via ride sharing. Ride-share operators are competing with parents for curb space. Unfortunately, many of the cars at the curb have arrived early. Drivers are left waiting 10-15 minutes for their passengers to emerge from the theater.

Ways to Eliminate Curb Congestion

Regardless of the causes of curb congestion, there are ways to reduce or eliminate it. One way is to designate a separate pick-up and drop-off location and then mark it with striping and signage. Again, let us use the movie theater as an example.

The area directly in front of the theater can be designated as a fire zone with red striping. Signage at the curb can indicate that no pick-ups and drop-offs are allowed. Instead, a separate loading zone further to the side could be marked out with striping and signage. Ride-share operators and other drivers picking up or dropping off could be directed to that area.

A second option relies on a similar principal. If a building has more than one entrance, one of the secondary entrances could be designated for picking up and dropping off. A companion secondary entrance into the lot itself can be utilized to create a separate lane for picking up and dropping off, a lane that leads directly to the designated door.

Mitigating Curb Congestion in a New Lot

While the limits of an existing parking lot might prevent property owners from reducing curb congestion, brand new lots are a different story. A company looking to install a brand-new concrete or asphalt parking lot can design that lot from the ground up with curb congestion in mind.

Does your parking lot suffer from curb congestion? If so, we might be able to help with new striping and signage. If you are installing a brand-new parking lot from the ground up, we can help design one that maximizes traffic flow and mitigates curb congestion. Just remember that curb congestion is a good problem to have. It is something you can work with.