Crowd Dynamics Ltd - Queueing Introduction

Keywords: simulating people, simulating crowds, simulating crowd dynamics, simulating queues

Heightened security checks at airports could create potential new targets for terrorists, a report from MPs has said. It is essential to speed up check-in times and reduce queues, the House of Commons Transport Committee said. The number of passengers breaching carry-on luggage restrictions was a cause for concern, the report added. There appeared to be confusion between airports and the Government about the carry-on restrictions and some passengers "do not believe in the threat" the extra security is meant to guard against.

MPs also said air passengers were "more frustrated and dissatisfied than ever" and that airlines with Ł10 flights and "tenpenny managements" could not exempt themselves from good standards and service. The MPs said Professor Alan Hatcher of the International School for Security and Explosives Education, and Michael Todd, the Greater Manchester chief constable, had "both pointed out to us in October 2006 that lengthy queues in check-in areas presented a significant security threat".

The committee had been told: "We have lines of people in terminals now, 200, 300 people in a queue. Your bag is not searched when you go in or out. You can take 23kg of baggage with you and 23kg of ammonium nitrate mix would... make a good impact."

The report continued: "This was illustrated starkly by the recent car attack on Glasgow airport. Moving passengers more swiftly through to airside will, in itself, reduce the threat to the travelling public. Speeding up check-in-times and reducing the security queue should be a priority for airports and airlines."

The report said that security procedures at airports were "lengthy, intrusive and frustrating" but were "absolutely fundamental not only to the safe travel of air passengers but to the wider national security interest".

The committee said the Government could do more to support airports and to assist with emergency staff or funds if required.

All of us have had the experience of having to wait in line. This is an all too common feature of urbanised, congested "high-tech" societies.

We wait in line for our cars in traffic jams, at toll booths, in the supermarket, at the bank and post office. The internet and telephone systems are queued ("Please hold while your call is being processed").

Entry to a sporting event or concert can involve several thousands of people, all waiting in some kind of queueing system.

Doctors and Hospitals operate a queueing system. Aeroplanes waiting to take off or land are a held in a queue. Amusement parks, fast food restaurants, jobs on a machine, programmes on a computer. Life seems to be one long series of frustrating queues, take a number, wait in line, please hold! Customers do not generally like these waits and neither do service providers since it may cost them business. So why do we have so many queues and how can we manage them more efficiently?

Where there are more things needing a service than most services can economically provide. Queueing theory helps us solve those kind of problems. Too few servers and the queues grow in size, frustrations rise and profits drop as customers move elsewhere. Too many servers and profits drop when these servers are idle. Getting the balance right is a complicated process. Take toilets - why are there never enough toilet facilities at a venue?