Have you ever seen elevators where you select a floor from the outside and it gets assigned to one of multiple elevators? Those seem like they might be doing something more sophisticated.
This was made worse through the need to specify the number of people who are travelling to a specific floor so the algorithm can allocate enough space in each elevator. Large groups often ignored this so you’d often find that an elevator you’ve waited minutes for is full, and start the dance all over again.
Same thing happens with traffic lights.
But I also know most people prefer a driving trip where they’re continually moving rather than one where they’re basically stopped - even if the second is shorter in time.
“Apparent fairness” is an important design criteria for dealing with the public. Even if the system is actually incredibly unfair.