The issue of fairness is dealt with at the time of merging, whenever it's done, by the drivers all letting one person go first. If the merge is at the last possible time and everybody plays by the rules there can be no unfairness.
Each traffic lane is equivalent to a server in a queueing system. The size of the queue is determined by the arrival rate, the number of servers, and the service time. By reducing the number of servers - that is, by reducing the highway to one lane, queues are more likely to build up. Similarly, by increasing the service time the queues are likely to increase. In this example the service time is the time it takes for a car to pass through the road works which might be, for example, 100 yards long. If everybody merges 100 yards early they take a lane out of commission before they need to, making the 'pipe' 200 yards long and thereby increasing the time it takes to get through - the service time (probably by 2X). Bob > > > Bob W, > Gotta do the math. > The service rate is fixed. The length of the queue, be it one or two > lanes wide depends completely on the arrival rate. Stack 'em in one > lane, two lanes, or three lanes it doesn't matter. Average wait time > will be the same. > The issue is fairness as some asses try to cut into the queue and get > thru faster. > For every minute they gain on the average, the rest of the group > suffers an additional minute wait. > Regards, Bob S. > > On Thu, May 7, 2009 at 4:38 PM, Bob W <[email protected]> wrote: > > Sure, but the earlier they merge, the longer the pipe (ie > longer service > > time), which leads to longer queues. > > > >> > >> Bob, > >> That's not really true. > >> Make the pipe as big as you want (as many lanes) before the > >> constriction (to one lane). > >> Traffic flow will not improve. > >> Regards, Bob S. > >> > >> On Thu, May 7, 2009 at 2:29 AM, Bob W <[email protected]> wrote: > >> > If everyone merges early they still need to know the rule > >> to avoid huge jams > >> > in one or both lanes, but the unused lane is no longer > >> serving traffic, so > >> > the total speed of the traffic is much slower. > >> > > >> > Bob > > > > > > -- > > PDML Pentax-Discuss Mail List > > [email protected] > > http://pdml.net/mailman/listinfo/pdml_pdml.net > > to UNSUBSCRIBE from the PDML, please visit the link > directly above and follow the directions. > > > > -- > PDML Pentax-Discuss Mail List > [email protected] > http://pdml.net/mailman/listinfo/pdml_pdml.net > to UNSUBSCRIBE from the PDML, please visit the link directly > above and follow the directions. > -- PDML Pentax-Discuss Mail List [email protected] http://pdml.net/mailman/listinfo/pdml_pdml.net to UNSUBSCRIBE from the PDML, please visit the link directly above and follow the directions.
