Destination control: is it right for your building?

In a conventional Lift lobby, you press up or down, wait for any Lift, get in and press your floor. In peak times for example morning, many passengers enter same car and all could be going to all floors. So passengers in this example travelling from lobby to upper floors have a long time to destination, due to all stops on way up. With destination control, you choose your floor on a panel in the lobby, and the system tells you which Lift to take.

The change looks small, but in a busy building it can mean shorter waits and faster journeys, because the system groups people going to the same floors. It doesn't suit every building, though, and it needs care when it's introduced.

How destination control works

• You enter your floor at a panel in the lobby or on each landing.
• The system assigns a Lift, grouping passengers heading to nearby floors.
• The Lift makes fewer stops, so journeys are faster and the group moves more people and reduces time to destination.

Richie Lobert, who co-founded LML, was Major Projects Manager for New Technologies at Schindler, working on destination control systems.

Where it works well

• Busy office towers with strong morning peaks
• Buildings with several Lifts in a group
• Mixed-use buildings, where panels can offer destinations such as "gym" or "retail"
• Buildings with security, where access cards can be programmed for an employee's 'home' floor and call a Lift to the right floor
• Buildings with secured Lift lobbies at main floors, such as speed-style gates where the destination control terminals can be installed at point of entry

Where it may not suit

• Small groups of two or three lifts, where the gain is limited
• Residential buildings, where acceptance has historically been lower
• Buildings with many one-off visitors, unless signage and panel design are good

As a rule of thumb, destination control helps most in office towers with four or more lifts in a group and strong morning peaks, and least in small groups and in residential buildings with low traffic. A traffic study is what settles it for a particular building.

LML can assist with independent passenger handling modelling for performance on Conventional versus Destination Control for your Building, for both new Builds and modernisation projects.

Upgrading existing Lifts

Destination control can be added to existing Lifts, and sometimes it should come first. At 222 Exhibition Street in Melbourne, it was fitted to the existing Lifts before any Lifts were removed from service for modernisation. The more efficient DCS group kept the building moving without disruption to existing waiting times while Lifts were replaced, and the project finished ahead of schedule.

It is a credit to all involved that such a high standard project was delivered.

Richie Lobert, on 222 Exhibition Street

Getting occupants used to it

Early complaints usually concern finding and knowing how to use the panels and not knowing which Lift to take. Clear signage, tenant training and lobby staff assisting in the first week of the move from conventional to destination control will resolve most of them. The lift company usually runs training before handover or at handover itself.

Decide with a traffic analysis

Whether destination control will help depends on how people use the building. A traffic analysis models waiting and journey times before you commit.

What the upgrade involves

Adding destination control to existing Lifts involves more than new buttons:

• Replacing up and down buttons with new Panels at the main lobby, and on every floor, these are known as destination operating panels (DOPs) and are like I-Pads in which you enter your destination or badge your security card
• A new group controller that assigns Lifts, which may need controller upgrades on each car
• Integration with access control, so a card can call a Lift to the right floor ('home' floor for regular users that have same floor access every day)
• Fire service and accessibility requirements, kept intact through the change
• A staged changeover, so the building keeps running

The order of work matters as well. As at 222 Exhibition Street, fitting destination control first can make the group efficient enough to keep serving tenants while individual Lifts are taken out for modernisation.

How much difference it makes

Destination control changes how a group of Lifts shares its passengers. Because people going to the same floors or floors close together travel together, each Lift makes fewer stops and completes its round trip sooner. In busy buildings, that can mean shorter journeys and a group that moves more people at peak times and to their destination quicker.

How much more efficient in passenger movement a particular building would gain depends on how its own traffic behaves.

Design details that matter

Most complaints about destination control come down to design details:

• Clear panels at the entry points, so people choose their floor before reaching the Lifts
• Signs over each Lift showing its letter, visible from the panels
• Accessible panels with audio, large text and a route for people who need more time
• A way for visitors to use the system without a card, in buildings with security

Plan the change for occupants

A short explainer, tenant training, signs and a few days of lobby staff help passengers adjust to destination control within a short time.

Questions people ask

What is destination control in Lifts?

A system where passengers choose their floor before entering, and the system assigns the best lift, grouping passengers to reduce stops.

Can destination control be added to old Lifts?

Often, yes. It can be fitted as part of a modernisation or before modernisation of Lifts commences.

Is destination control good for apartment buildings?

Sometimes. Acceptance in residential buildings has been lower, and it depends on the building and the panel design. However, we are seeing a higher intake in residential and hotels due to the preference for technology that DCS can provide. For example, in a residential building it is possible to send a QR code to friends visiting so they can access your floor.

Find out if it suits your building

LML Lift Consultants models lift traffic, specifies destination control and manages upgrades. We sell no equipment and take no commissions.

Talk to us or call 1300 001 565.