Every airport in the world has exactly the same challenges - get people and stuff ON airplanes; get people and stuff OFF airplanes.
So, how come no two airports look remotely the same?
You'd think by now someone would have come up with a design that works, and boom - there's your airport.
Well, someone has in fact come up with such a design. It's in Munich.
Scale it up or scale it down as needed.
But I guess that'd be too easy.
I got to thinking of that (again) today as I ran two different test cars through the PetroCan car wish in beautiful downtown Milton.
(No no, not simultaneously.)
Like airports, all car washes have exactly the same challenges - spray water and soap onto cars, wipe it off, rinse, and dry.
So, how come no two car washes look the same?
Some have sprays here, some have them there. Some have rotating bristle-brushes (or waving ribbons of cloth) here, some have them there.
Some have neither brushes nor cloth, but for all the good 'Touchless' car washes do, you might as well just pray for rain.
(Oh, and for those of you who cringe at the thought of a rotating bristle-brush car wash, did you know that the last stage in the manufacturing process for Porsches in Zuffenhausen Germany is a rotating bristle-brush car wash? You're welcome.)
Believe it or not, there actually IS a 'Car Wash Institute', which I gather is some sort of 'professional association' for, well, car wash professionals.
You'd think maybe they'd come up with some standard design.
Not so's I've ever noticed.
I get it that in some cases, there is only so much real estate. Some sites need to pack more stuff into a smaller space.
But most car washes in suburbia have all the room they need.
How do they decide what they need, or what goes where?
There are, however, two things which all automatic car washes seem to have in common:
- the rinse phase is at least 30 seconds too short. There is always - ALWAYS - soap left on the car somewhere;
- the drying phase is at least a minute too short. The car never - NEVER - exits from the bay without droplets all over it, sometimes with streams of water still cascading off it.
C'mon, Car Wash Institute. Whip your membership into shape.
(Hey - you gotta think of SOMETHING while you're sitting in a car wash. I can't usually get cell reception in there.)