# How to Measure Lift Waiting Times in a Building | Wide CS

> A practical method for building managers to measure lift waiting times, intervals and peak demand in an existing building, with a simple survey template.

Canonical page: https://www.widesystems.com/insights/how-to-measure-lift-waiting-times.html  
Last updated: 2026-11-09

[Insights](https://www.widesystems.com/insights.html) / Measuring performance

# How to measure lift waiting times *in an existing building*

By **Umesh Bala**, Senior Manager, Technology Implementation, Wide CS · Last updated 9 November 2026

Measure how long people wait from pressing the call button to a car arriving, at the busiest times, on several different days. Record the time, floor, direction and how many people boarded. A week of peak-hour data tells you whether your building has a real capacity problem and where it is.

## The numbers that matter

* **Average waiting time:** from call to car arrival, averaged over a period.
* **Longest waits:** the worst cases, which drive complaints.
* **Interval:** the average time between cars leaving the main lobby.
* **Handling capacity:** the share of the building's population the lifts can move in five minutes at peak.

CIBSE Guide D is the standard reference lift consultants use for these measures. For office buildings, a common benchmark is an interval of about 20 to 30 seconds (Designing Buildings Wiki).

## Three ways to measure

1. **A manual survey.** Staff with a stopwatch at the main lobby and a few busy floors during peaks. Cheap and quick, but limited to the times and places you observe.
2. **Controller data.** Ask your elevator service provider for call and trip logs from the controller. Accurate for call times, but it cannot tell you how many people were waiting.
3. **Sensor or camera counts.** Systems such as SES count people waiting and on board continuously, giving you every peak, every day, on a dashboard.

## A simple one-week survey

1. Pick the peaks: usually 7:00 to 9:00, 12:00 to 14:00 and 17:00 to 19:00.
2. Choose the main lobby plus two or three of the busiest floors.
3. For each call, record the time the button was pressed, the time a car arrived, the direction, and how many people boarded.
4. Note any car that was out of service.
5. Repeat on at least five days, including a weekend day for residential buildings.

| Date | Floor | Direction | Call time | Car arrived | Wait (s) | People boarded | Car full? |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| e.g. Mon 10 Nov | G | Up | 08:02:10 | 08:03:25 | 75 | 6 | No |

## What to do with the results

Compare your averages and worst cases with the benchmark agreed with your lift consultant. If waits are long only at peaks while equipment is healthy, the control logic is the likely bottleneck and an AI retrofit is worth assessing. If cars are frequently out of service, start with maintenance. Read [why lifts in Dubai buildings are slow](https://www.widesystems.com/insights/why-are-lifts-slow-dubai-buildings.html) for the usual causes.

## Sources

1. [Designing Buildings Wiki: Lifts for office buildings](https://www.designingbuildings.co.uk/wiki/Lifts_for_office_buildings)

**Umesh Bala**Senior Manager, Technology Implementation, Wide CS

Leads Wide CS implementation projects, including SES installations, from first survey to go-live.

SES · Smart Elevator System

Make existing lifts faster without replacing them. Typically under AED 500,000 and about a day per lift.

[See how SES works](https://www.widesystems.com/smart-elevator-system.html)

More guides

* [Why Are the Lifts in My Dubai Building So Slow?](https://www.widesystems.com/insights/why-are-lifts-slow-dubai-buildings.html)
* [Lift Modernisation Cost in the UAE vs an AI Retrofit](https://www.widesystems.com/insights/lift-modernisation-cost-uae.html)
* [Destination Dispatch Retrofit vs AI Camera-Based Lift Control](https://www.widesystems.com/insights/destination-dispatch-vs-ai-lift-control.html)

Get in touch

## Talk to us about *your lifts.*

Tell us about your building and when queues are worst. We will tell you honestly whether SES, maintenance or modernisation is the right next step.

Office
:   #2108, Damac Executive Heights
    Al Barsha Heights, Dubai, UAE
    P.O. Box 32614

Telephone
:   +971 4 452 7776Copy

Email
:   sales@widesystems.comCopy

---
Wide CS (Wide Computer Systems L.L.C.) · #2108 Damac Executive Heights, Al Barsha Heights, Dubai, UAE · +971 4 452 7776 · sales@widesystems.com