The line to see Queen Elizabeth II lying in state is snaking across central London. Could it have been done better?
The queue is a challenge for infrastructure, too, with more than 1,000 people—including 779 stewards and 100 volunteer marshals—ensuring no one cuts in. Along the queue route, 500 portable toilets have been installed, while a wristband system is in operation allowing people to leave the line to get food and drink and not lose their place.
Another concept borrowed from theme parks are the snakelike sections that double back on themselves to allow more people to be crammed into less space, which are visible not only at Southwark Park but also, around one-third of the way into the line, and closer to the conclusion of the queue. These need barriers and staff to help make them work.
“It’s just fortunate that this has happened now, after the summer,” says Collinson. “In the middle of the festival season, when it was in full swing, it may have even been harder to get the infrastructure and the stewards.” Such ways of lining people up make the queue seem shorter than it is—a clever psychological trick to try to ease frustrations.
But one surprise has been the comparative lack of disquiet about standing so long in line. Rebellion hasn’t materialized in the form of cutting in or complaints about delays. If anything, people have been more annoyed about not being able to join the line in the first place. The queue for the queue is evidence of that. “I just call it determination,” says Kant.
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