Skip to Content
Streetsblog USA home
Streetsblog USA home
Log In
Around the Block

Taco Bell Ditching Drive-Thrus in Cities

Over the next five years, Taco Bell plans to open more than 300 restaurants without drive-thrus or parking, like this one in downtown Cleveland. Photo: Tom Horsman

It's 2017 and you have to take positive news where you can find it.

With that in mind, consider this development: Taco Bell is chasing customers who'll walk to get their fast food fix. The chain is moving away from drive-thrus, reports Devon Walsh at Food & Wine, even though orders from the driver's seat account for most of its sales. Over the next five years, Taco Bell plans to open more than 300 locations without drive-thrus in major cities.

Steve Patterson at Urban Review STL wonders if other fast food chains will follow suit -- and what the effect will be on neighborhood restaurants:

Of course, this could hurt locally-owned Mexican restaurants in areas too urban for a typical Taco Bell. Taco Bell is part of Yum Brands -- KFC & Pizza Hut are corporate cousins -- maybe these will also develop an urban model? Expect other chains to also look to urban areas for growth -- adding new suburban locations is no longer a viable strategy.

Taco Bell recently opened one of these "cantinas" without parking or a drive-thru in downtown Cleveland, right next to the terminus of the Healthline bus rapid transit route. Say what you will about the maker of the Cheesy Gordita Crunch, it's a big change in the way fast food sellers have typically operated in Cleveland, where their locations are almost exclusively in car-oriented suburbs.

More recommended reading today: Writing at Medium, Darin Givens urges Atlanta leaders to address inequality and dangerous traffic conditions simultaneously. And Stop and Move posts an update on the agonizingly slow construction of a not-very-complex Fresno bus rapid transit project.

Stay in touch

Sign up for our free newsletter

More from Streetsblog USA

It’s a Bird, It’s a Plane, It’s Wednesday’s Headlines

Is our Jetsons future is finally upon us? Plus, a new and better way to measure streets' level of service.

September 17, 2025

Op-Ed: Congress Has A Big Opportunity to Connect America By Intercity Bus

The next federal transportation bill could be a chance to connect rural America with buses like never before — and it will have spillover benefits nationwide, the CEO of one top bus company argues.

September 17, 2025

Breaking: US DOT Pulls Grants For Projects That Aren’t Focused on Cars

The Trump administration bias for "vehicular travel" — and the burning of fossil fuels that it requires — rears its ugly head again.

September 16, 2025

Seattle’s Human Population Is Up, But Its Car Population Isn’t

Urbanists have long been making that case that growth in Seattle is the most climate-friendly and easiest to support with transit and infrastructure. And it's happening.

September 16, 2025

Tuesday’s Headlines Stay Safe

Political rhetoric notwithstanding, you're much safer on a bus or a train than in a car, or walking or biking near cars.

September 16, 2025
See all posts