PITTSBURGH’S WAITING GAME
Where are the longest lines? Are they worth it?
We can all agree that the “Gilmore Girls” revival was terrible. But, amid the mess of Rory realizing that maybe she isn’t a particularly talented journalist, she is assigned a really interesting pitch about the group psychology of people waiting in lines (which she fails to write, because, as mentioned, she’s a bad journalist ). askudh
Here at the Post-Gazette, we attempted what Rory Gilmore failed. So, why do people wait? What’s worth waiting for? Where is the longest wait in Pittsburgh? Is the wait part of the mystique? Does anyone do it for the wait itself? The Post-Gazette investigates.
There are lines people wait in everywhere — airport security and the DMV come to mind.
But while Los Angeles might get the buzz for worst traffic and New York City might boast lines out the door at trendy food spots, Pittsburghers will wait hours for only the most valuable things — mostly sports and brunch.
Where’s the line?
Call Downtown Tex-Mex joint Tako any night, and you’ll hear that a table won’t be ready for hours. Show up and there’s no line out the door. The same scenario plays out at many of Pittsburgh’s most beloved eateries — Meat & Potatoes, Coca Cafe and Waffles INCaffeinated, to name a few.
So what’s the deal with these invisible lines?
Waffles INCaffeinated and Coca Cafe are among 5,000 restaurants nationwide that now use the Yelp Nowait app, which began as a Pittsburgh startup in 2010; Yelp acquired Nowait in March. Other restaurants such as Meat & Potatoes and Tako run mostly on phone reservations made days in advance.
George Loewenstein, the Herbert A. Simon University Professor of Economics and Psychology at Carnegie Mellon University, said that using the app at a grand opening might not be a great idea when a long line signals popularity and high quality for an unfamiliar product. After that, the app could come in handy.
Once a good reputation is established, long lines have diminishing returns so far as increasing popularity, Mr. Loewenstein said. And if lines aren’t bettering a
restaurant’s reputation, they’re just frustrating.
The Yelp Nowait app lets users get a virtual place in line for a restaurant table.
Jamie Korpacz, 23, of the South Side, arrived at Waffles INCaffeinated several minutes before her table was ready. The wait at the time of her arrival — around 10:30 a.m. on Sunday, July 16 — was 45 minutes for a table for three, according to the host.
But Nowait let Ms. Korpacz skip the line. The app gave her updated wait times and texted her when her table was ready.
“For customers, they can live better, more productive lives,” said Ware Sykes, the general manager for Yelp Nowait, in an email.
So why don’t more people use this time-saving app?
“I don’t think people know about it,” Ms. Korpacz suggested.
Mr. Loewenstein said that the app could be an alternative to long waits, but he worried that those who don’t use the app might find it unfair if someone who arrived at a restaurant later than they did was seated sooner.
For Ms. Korpacz, there’s no going back from Nowait. Would she now ever be willing to wait 45 minutes or more for Waffles INCaffeinated? “No. There’s no way.”
Road rage
Nowait? Sometimes there’s no choice. Such as waiting for the light to finally turn green at River Avenue and the 31st Street Bridge or at the McKees Rocks Bridge and Route 65 after a long day at work — that will irritate even the most patient among us. Inching through traffic heading through the Squirrel Hill Tunnel before a Monday night Steelers game at rush hour with construction restrictions? We won’t even go there.
Word of advice: Once you’ve started on a trafficheavy route, don’t think about how you’d already be at home eating pasta if only you’d taken the back roads. Mr. Loewenstein, who cofounded the field of behavioral economics, says that anxiety and regret will only make the wait feel longer.
So what is up with those long waits at lights? Pennsylvania Department of Transportation traffic engineer Todd Kravits said that traffic lights are controlled by individual municipalities.
“You could travel down Route 19 and travel through five or six different governmental regions,” he said, making traffic coordination difficult.
Mr. Kravits said PennDOT works with municipalities when they receive traffic light-related complaints — “it could be an equipment issue” — and if timing is found to be a concern, adjustments are made accordingly.
“There are a lot of factors that go into traffic signals, and sometimes by virtue of spacing and the amount of traffic, [light maintenance] may take a little bit longer than what we’d like to see as drivers,” he said. “We work very closely with municipalities to give them the guidance they need to make those improvements.”
Technology also dictates traffic patterns. Mr. Kravits said that some Western Pennsylvania lights have an “adaptive traffic signal system” installed that collects data and “continually records and retimes traffic signals.”
“It would almost be like if we had someone at that traffic signal every day, seven days a week, 365 days a year,” he explained.
So next time you are waiting for what seems like forever at a traffic light, blame the robots.
Start the day like a yinzer
Feeling nostalgic for good old-fashioned lines that lasted for hours and stretched around city blocks? You’ll still find those. There’s almost always one outside of Millie’s Homemade Ice Cream in Shadyside, and on weekends expect a wait to get into the Square Cafe in Regent Square.
Then there’s Pamela’s in the Strip District. At 11:45 on Sunday, July 23, hungry brunch eaters crowded the sidewalk waiting for a table. Pamela’s doesn’t take reservations and doesn’t use Nowait, so waiting is the only way to satisfy a craving for crispy crepe-style hotcakes. So, why do it?
“The chorizo hash,” said Tom Parsons, 50. Originally from Slippery Rock, he now lives in West Virginia, but he was back to visit family in Pittsburgh. He normally avoids lines, but Pamela’s is an exception.
April Kauffman, 28, from Murrysville, agreed.
“We’re not huge line people, but this is special,” she said. “It’s kind of a staple in Pittsburgh, somewhere we came when we were younger and don’t get there very often.”
The line was out the door at Pamela’s rival, Deluca’s, as well. But that didn’t stop Joe Banton, a 22-year-old student at the University of Pittsburgh.
“It’s one of the finer things in life, so I’m OK waiting a little while for some good food.”
Lines out the door
Popular Kennywood rides promise a wait of at least 30 minutes. Top offenders include the Exterminator, Auto Racer and Phantom’s Revenge — and, of course, Potato Patch fries.
Lines stretched around the block before the Benedum Center opened its doors for the 8 p.m. showing of “In the Heights” on July 14. The line was for ticket holders who were already guaranteed their assigned seats.
Season ticket holders waited for two to three hours to get a picture with the Stanley Cup and see the Penguins locker room at PPG Paints Arena July 6.
Penguins frenzy was also in play June 20, when fans lined up more than 12 hours early to meet Marc-Andre Fleury at a Dick’s Sporting Goods in Cranberry. The signing began at 7 p.m., but Hannah Fallecker, 19, of Mars arrived at 5:30 a.m.
“Fleury has been my favorite Penguin for some time now, and knowing that his time in Pittsburgh was most likely going to come to an end, I could not miss my chance at getting an autograph and meeting him,” she said in a Facebook message.
She said that knowing she’d get to meet the Penguins goalie at the end made everything worthwhile, and talking with excited fans kept the atmosphere in the line light and fun.
“I would do it again. The story I have to tell is one that I will cherish forever. My family thinks I’m nuts for waiting, but they expect nothing less of me.”
James Lautenbacher, 39, of Cranberry, arrived at 6 a.m., also drawn by Mr. Fleury’s character, not the lure of the line.
“This is my first time doing a jersey autograph. I wanted it to be him,” he said.
Twenty One Pilots though?
When Twenty One Pilots came to Stage AE on June 1, 2016, eager concert attendees camped out days in advance to get the coveted standing space closer to the stage. Angelia Heimsoth, 20, from East Cleveland, was near the front, thanks to her early arrival time of 9 p.m. May 29.
“My friend and I just wanted to see what it would be like, and it was quite the adventure living on the streets of Pittsburgh for a couple days,” said Ms. Heimsoth in a Facebook message.
So, would she do it again? Nothing that extreme, she said.
“It was so hot, and there was no reprieve anywhere. They are my favorite band, so it was awesome to be the first ones in the venue and the front and center, but I’ve had just as much fun in the back of the pit.”
Brian Bartels, 17, a regular line-waiter from Shaler, felt differently: “It is always worth it.
“Seeing all of the theatrics up close is an incredible experience, and the memories you make are worth every second of waiting outside,” he said in a Facebook message.
Brian is part of an unofficial community of people across the country who do the same thing — extreme line-waiting, often involving camping out, to find a unique, up-close experience.
Mr. Loewenstein said that waiting for so long might prime someone’s brain to enjoy an experience: “No one wants to think they’ve wasted a lot of time.”
The award for longest wait in Pittsburgh goes to ...
Nope, it’s not the dayslong camping-out experience that filled the sidewalks outside Stage AE before the Twenty One Pilots show.
Waiting for a red light takes minutes; for a restaurant, maybe hours; for good seats at a once-in-a-lifetime show, days; but for Steelers season tickets? Decades. With a football team this successful, who can blame the fans?
Those who joined the season ticket wait list in 1998 are just getting their tickets. Join the list now to put your name behind more than 40,000 others. Our advice? Buy in your 20s for the best graduation gift ever when your grandkids finish high school (heck, even college). Talk about planning for retirement early.