bikes in the drive-thru lane
I have been able to pull up to the B.K. drive-thru and get a couple burgers on the way home from a late ride...no problem. The McDonalds at Elston and Irving park also served me on my Bike many times.
But last night, I was refused service at McDonalds,Wendys and Burger King, at the Drive-tru.
At one of the places, there was a sign/sticker by the window that read "no walk-up orders take"...but I didn't walk up...I rode my bicycle.
Maybe it's all for the best that I not eat at these places, but at this point it feels like i'm being discriminated against for my mode of transportation.
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Replies to This Discussion
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Permalink Reply by Thunder Snow on -
Hello:
Thank you for taking the time to contact McDonald's.
We apologize for your disappointment on a recent visit to McDonald's. You may be interested to know that McDonald's values the safety of our customers. As such, for safety reasons, McDonald's policy states that customers who walk up or arrive on bicycles to the Drive-thru windows should not be served at the windows. This policy also applies to those customers who operate motorized wheelchairs or non-licensed motorized vehicles. During hours when the front counter is open, we would welcome the customer inside to have his or her order taken at the front counter.
We hope this information has been helpful. Again, thank you for contacting McDonald's. We hope to have the opportunity of serving you again soon under the Golden Arches.Jessica
McDonald's Customer Response Center
ref#:7028410
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You wrote:
I'm curious to know if I can order at the drive-thru while on my bicycle. Last evening, I was out on my bike and I wanted a snack at a McDonald's on north Clark Street in Chicago. I hadn't thought to bring my bike lock with me, so my two options were to either bring the bicycle into the restaurant with me, which I figured no one would appreciate, or use the drive-thru. I rode up to the drive-thru menu board and waited patiently several minutes, but got no response from the order-taker. While waiting, a very impatient woman in a car behind me began screaming insults and cursing like a drunken sailor at me for being in the drive-thru, so, figuring my safety was compromised by having an insane patron behind me, I simply rode away from the restaurant without ordering my snack. Now, the road raging patron who threatened me was definitely not McDonald's problem, but I got to wondering if maybe she was correct. Is my bike too light a vehicle to trigger the "I'm here!" signal to the order-taker inside? I thought at the very least, I'd be visible in the drive-thru camera. Or are bikes prohibited in the drive-thru and the order-taker was simply waiting for me to go away? Next time, should I simply ride up to the drive-thru window and order face-to-face--though I would think this would slow down the drive-through operation, as they wouldn't be able to begin assembling the order until I had appeared at the pick-up window. Any suggestions for me?
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Permalink Reply by James BlackHeron on -
+1 million
The abominable blight of a dumpy McDonalds on Milwaukee in Logan Square will be reborn as a DOUBLE-lane drive through soon -rules or no rules making that area of Milwaukee a "pedestrian street" which was supposed to limit driveways and ins&outs onto the road. Laws are only for the little people but Big Corporations like Mooby'stmsimply can get the Alderman to wave these laws for them when they are inconvenient to their litter-creating/polluting/traffic-snarling/pedestrian-crushing business plans.
Seriously, when you are Big McLawertm you can get any law changed for YOU.
Jeff Schneider said:I think drive-thru anything is an eyesore, a traffic hazard (think the McDonalds on Clark near Diversey) and in the case of fast food, a big source of litter (just watch the drivers unwrap their burgers and throw the trash out the window as they drive away). I try hard not to do business with any of them.
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Permalink Reply by El Dorado on -
As a former fast food worker there is a good reason why they may refuse service. Robbery.
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Permalink Reply by Joe Schmoe on -
^This. It's really easy to rob a takeout window if you don't have a car to quickly ditch somewhere.
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Permalink Reply by James BlackHeron on
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Robbery? How is "refusing service" going to help robbery? Is it possible to refuse robbery? Once a bike has pulled up to a drive-up window their chance to prevent a possible hold-up is over. They are already there. Telling them to leave at that point isn't going to help anything -whether they are a robber or not.
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Permalink Reply by Peenworm Grubologist on -
The real trick to this is getting the hang of getting your bike to trigger the sensor, which are sometimes visible in the pavement. It'll look like a rectangle with diagonal lines going through the corners, cut into the ground near the speaker. If you can see it, plant your bike wheel on one of those lines and order through the speaker. Then by the time you get to the window the whole process is already underway and it's too late for them to start complaining about it then.
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Permalink Reply by Daniel G on -
I had to think about this for a little while. If it's not possible to force open the drive-thru windows from the outside, which I imagine it isn't, not having to open the windows in the first place could make the robbery attempt a lot more tedious. I still think that a felon on a bicycle is as easy to track down as the nondescript guy in the white Honda. The other side is that bikes are cheap enough to sprint away on and abandon, and once the robber is off the bike, it usually offers no leads for identification. This assumes the guy brought a change of clothes, because his body was exposed entirely during the robbery and his complete description will be in the hands of the police. I would also guess that this whole discussion is moot and the phenomenon of drive-thru bike robbery never happens and never did. Maybe someone can prove me wrong, but the whole business of telling bikes to screw off just smells like thoughtless, off-hand reactionary policy.
One last point in defense of these policies is the companies may view bikes as much nearer to pedestrians than cars, and they really do not wants peds in the drive-thru because it makes drivers in the queue nervous, among other reasons. They may see an allowance for bikes as an unspoken invitation for guys on foot to start showing up and demanding service.
James BlackHeron said:Robbery? How is "refusing service" going to help robbery? Is it possible to refuse robbery? Once a bike has pulled up to a drive-up window their chance to prevent a possible hold-up is over. They are already there. Telling them to leave at that point isn't going to help anything -whether they are a robber or not.
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Permalink Reply by Zoetrope on -
My neighbor has a nice backyard garden, and of course bikes are welcome. Not nearly enough to supply all of CL, but I'm sure she'd be happy to set someone up with some produce if interested.
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Permalink Reply by El Dorado on
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Also, fast food places may think folks on bikes are like pedestrians in the drive-through lanes. Usually they are vagrants panhandling in line.
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Permalink Reply by Blatherskate on -
Just the other day, I saw a driver throw his fast food trash out his window. And what was he driving? A hummer...
It's nice living on a busy intersection so I see all this from my living room window. I should just keep a carton of eggs on hand for times like this. Or a bucket of war rocks, ala homer simpson.
Jeff Schneider said:I think drive-thru anything is an eyesore, a traffic hazard (think the McDonalds on Clark near Diversey) and in the case of fast food, a big source of litter (just watch the drivers unwrap their burgers and throw the trash out the window as they drive away). I try hard not to do business with any of them.
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