Editing Queue area (section)

{{Short description|Places where people queue or "line up" for goods or services}}
{{globalize|date=March 2015}}

[[File:Tai Po Voting queue-20200712.jpg|thumb|Voting queue in Hong Kong]]
[[Image:Waiting in line at a food store.JPG|thumb|A queue area at a food store in New York City]]
[[File:Dejvická, autobus 312.jpg|right|thumb|People lined up when boarding a suburban bus in Prague]]
'''Queue areas''' are places in which people queue ([[first-come, first-served]])  for goods or services. Such a group of people is known as a ''queue'' ([[British English|British]] usage) or ''line'' ([[American English|American]] usage), and the people are said to be waiting or standing ''in a queue'' or ''in line'',{{efn|In the [[New York City|New York]] area, the phrase ''on line'' is often used in place of ''in line''.}} respectively.<ref>[http://www.learnersdictionary.com/search/line LearnersDictionary.com]</ref> Occasionally, both the British and American terms are combined to form the term "'''queue line'''".<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.jamesrobertwatson.com/quelines.html|title=Better layouts for queue lines|first=Jim|last=Watson|website=jamesrobertwatson.com|access-date=2018-03-18}}</ref><ref>{{cite video game|title=[[RollerCoaster Tycoon 2]] (U.S. release)|developer=[[Chris Sawyer|Chris Sawyer Productions]]|publisher=[[Infogrames]]|date=2002-10-15|platform=[[Microsoft Windows]]|scene=Footpaths window (normal gameplay)}} When the cursor hovers over the queue line options for a few seconds in the "Footpaths" window, a pop-up that says "Queue line paths" appears.</ref>

Examples include checking out [[groceries]] or other goods that have been collected in a [[self service]] [[Retailing#Shops and Stores|shop]], in a shop without self-service, at an [[Automatic Teller Machine|ATM]], at a ticket desk, a [[city bus]], or in a [[taxi stand]].

Queueing<ref>Also spelled ''queuing''.{{Cite web|title=QUEUE {{!}} Meaning & Definition for UK English {{!}} Lexico.com|url=https://www.lexico.com/definition/queue|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201111224722/https://www.lexico.com/definition/queue|url-status=dead|archive-date=November 11, 2020|access-date=2022-01-14|website=Lexico Dictionaries {{!}} English|language=en}}</ref> is a phenomenon in a number of fields, and has been extensively analysed in the study of [[queueing theory]]. In [[economics]], queueing is seen as one way to [[rationing|ration]] [[scarcity|scarce]] goods and services.