NHL ice hockey franchise the Buffalo Sabres has introduced a new mobile app feature that includes concession and bathroom wait times.
Technology on the One Buffalo app allows fans at the First Niagara Centre to plan a trip to the toilet or get a beer without missing too much of the Sabres’ game.
Wait Time, the company that provides the information, installs censors above concessions and bathrooms to interpret the crowd volume.
“The sensors are turned into spectrum bars, which act kind of like a traffic light. So green, yellow and red are the colours that we use to communicate with fans,” said Elizabeth Grabowski, Wait Time designer, according to WGRS.com. “Green means a short wait, yellow mean a medium wait, red means a long wait.”
In addition, the wait times will be featured on vertical monitors throughout the 100 and 300 levels at the arena, as well as throughout the concourse.
“So people can see…it’s something we’re trying to do for the fans to make it a better fan experience,” said Michael Gilbert, senior vice-president of the Sabres. “It’s just something we’re trying to make a little nicer for our fans.”
Gilbert added that the wait times feature was among the improvement suggestions that fans gave during a survey carried out by the Sabres last spring.
“We heard some of the issues they were having, and this is one of the things we’re trying to do to alleviate that, having more monitors and more information for them,” he said.
Local NFL American football franchise the Buffalo Bills use similar technology that assists fans in finding the entrance gates with the shortest line to get into its New Era Field home ground.
Image: Dorothy
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