Lift Throughput: Why it Matters and How to Improve it

So on topic... Sorry this has been fun:D. Not skiing but my wife and I had to change the flow at events. Our motto was 45 second beer lines. Nobody wants to wait in line. Granted chairlift have a limited capacity. It was sad watching the bathroom lines... We caused it but not our department ;)

Secondly people are sheep and need a shepherd. With a dozen open lanes everyone lines up in one. Why? No idea but someone had to be out there directing traffic.
There’s an equation there for x amount of beer left to line length that could possibly make that more attractive
 
1. Improper Ramp Configuration (includes ski racks on gondolas)
2. Improper Queue Configuration (includes RFID gates)
3. Inadequate Staffing Levels
4. Inadequate Staff Training
5. Guests Unwilling to Pair Up
6. Priority Access (ski school)
7. Lift Running Too Slow (or too fast)
The items on this list run a spectrum between things that annoy me greatly and things that I understand aren't necessarily up to the Operations team at the ski area.

Item 1, (ramp configurqtion / gondola ski racks) usually would require additional capital to fix. That doesn't mean it shouldn't eventually get fixed when funds are available / when changes are made to these areas. But if that takes years to remedy, I don't mind it usually. I don't like it when a new lift comes with these problems, however.

Item 2 (queue configuration) is one of the ones that quality management can typically mitigate for free. A poorly laid-out queue corral can dramatically impact the efficiency of a lift, and generate queues where none would exist. The most common issue I see is when the RFID gates are placed too close to the loading zone. Proper placement can prevent gaps from forming in lines and keep the chairs full when demand is high.

Items 3, 4, 6, and 7 can be the result of factors outside a mountain's control, or be the result of the mountain making a reasonable tradeoff given their operating priorities and staffing realities. It doesn't mean these problems should persist, but I understand that they can't always be fixed overnight.

Regarding item 5 (guests unwilling to pair up), what you say about it is true. However, solving the problem is not very easy at all. When I was in college, I was a ride operator at Disney World, and one of the rides I operated was Spaceship Earth, a continuously-loading dark ride where guests continuously load similar to a chairlift.

At a certain point, the operator needs to make a tradeoff between courtesy and efficiency, as enforcing a "no seat goes empty" in the rapid paced area of the loading zone can frequently end up with more seats going empty, despite efforts to the contrary.

Lift operators should certainly encourage full utilization of the lifts capacity when demand is more than a couple chairs worth. But beyond that, my experience is that enforcement is typically unproductive.
 
Ha, funny stuff. Killington has found a bunch of African people to lift up this season. I think they're African, could be Carribean, but, I think African. They sure ain't from Vermont or NY, that I'm sure of. They try hard, work hard, but, I don't think they've been trained very well in crowd control. One guy decided to be a traffic cop at the Skyepeak quad before we all hit the chair, trying to fill them all, not seeming to know about alternate merge and all that. He almost got trampled by frustrated old skiers just trying to, you know, ski. It was a clown show, for sure.
 
All the employee name tags say where they are from. They've always relied heavily on international workers to make snow, run lifts, and staff the food courts in the lodges.

Killington's lift operations are a mixed bag. They direct most of their lines, but you can tell that some employees are overworked or don't have much experience in doing it. They seem to do the best job at the K1 Gondola and Ramshead Express, both of which tend to have the longest lines. The biggest problem they have is the RFID gates at many of their lifts are too close to the load point.
 
Biggest problem I have is that it cost us 29 dollars with tip for an Irish coffee and a beer at the bar at the new lodge last week. That's a damn crime.
 
I find that their food is of good quality for a ski resort cafeteria, but is ridiculously overpriced. Since I don't brown bag, I guess I can't complain too much about it. My 25% passholder discount helps a lot though.
 
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