In Saskatoon, there is a proposal to put a moratorium on new drive-thrus. The reasons come down to two issues, safety and emissions. The latter is an issue that is slowly becoming less relevant as technology improves - more cars are including stop-start systems every year, and hybrids are becoming more common as well, so the number of cars which don't actually idle when in line will steadily increase over time. The safety issue, however, is one that needs to be looked at, and I'm not sure that a moratorium on new drive-thrus would do much good.
It's clear that there is a problem when a place becomes extremely popular with in-car traffic, anyone who has driven down Dracup Ave. would be able to see that immediately. The local Tim Horton's traffic spills out onto the street frequently, and there is no clear solution as to how they could reduce the problem. The lot doesn't have much space to expand, and it's the kind of business that attracts plenty of people on the go and unwilling to get out of their vehicle. One could point out that parking and going inside to get your coffee is frequently quicker, but that doesn't deal with the problem. The fact that traffic spills out onto a fairly busy street is something that needs a solution, though it'll have to be a creative one given space limitations.
One thing that is not a solution, however, is limiting the number of drive-thrus in the city. Just building more restaurants isn't going to work either, Saskatoon has plenty and is running into the same issues. However, that said, limiting future use of the service is not going to get rid of the problems that currently exist. If, for example, a second Tim Horton's was established somewhere in the city, but without a drive-thru, it might attract some of the in-store traffic, but it's not going to lure away anyone who prefers waiting in their car for coffee. The line will remain the same length, and as a result you're not actually solving any problems that the lines are causing at the location.
Once a drive-thru becomes popular enough to cause these problems we need to look at ways to eliminate them, and just saying there can be no new ones doesn't solve anything. The problems that exist will still exist, and while we won't have to worry about another place becoming popular enough to require changes for safety reasons, that does little but harm the places which currently need to be looked at. Besides which, as a city grows, if there is no new development the problems that exist at current locations are just going to increase, as there becomes fewer places that allow you to use the service. A packed drive-thru now is just going to get worse as more people move into a city.
We do need to figure out how to prevent traffic problems caused by a drive-thru, but this is something that requires us to work with businesses to plan for heavy traffic, not just say no new ones can implement the service. There has to be a way to get people better positioned so they don't disrupt other drivers - perhaps routing it in a way that spills out into a parking lot rather than the street. It's something that needs to be examined, for the safety of people in the city, but it's not something that can be done if we eliminate any new builds providing the same service.
