Roller coaster capacity is a term used by enthusiasts when commenting on how many people can ride a roller coaster within a given time. When the enthusiast talks about capacity it can be positive or negative.
Roller Coaster Capacity: Good Capacity
On the positive side, it would be where they talk about the roller coaster having great capacity. Think of the roller coasters by Bolliger and Mabillard (B&M). They have four-row seating in each row. That means that each time the coaster dispatches that it has a theoretical capacity of 32 riders. So when you queue up for Batman: The Ride at Six Flags St. Louis the hope is that the line will move quickly because the coaster has such good capacity.
Bad Capacity
One of the most popular roller coaster models today is the Rocky Mountain Construction RMC Raptors. They give a great ride but they definitely have a capacity problem. Where the B&M coasters have four-row seating the Raptors have single-row seating. Now the geniuses at RMC did make their trains longer but only being able to put 8 in the train can really slow things down.
Other factors
Though it isn’t always the trains that are the issue. Oftentimes people bring tons of bags and loose articles into the station. All that needs to be figured out before a train can be dispatched. You’ll see it on family coasters a lot where the loose article policy is what is creating a capacity problem. Or if the ride ops are not going super fast that day then it will also have an impact on capacity. This means that there are many different factors that contribute to Roller Coaster Capacity.
Why does it matter
Roller coaster capacity really does matter because this is the number of people that will be able to ride the coaster within a given timeframe. You can have a Coaster where 1,000 people can ride it per hour, or you have another coaster where only 500 people can ride it per hour. It hurts theme park satisfaction when people stand in lines all day. It is for these reasons why coaster enthusiasts pay so much attention and talk about capacity.
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