>If you make it free, then everyone will choose the fastest one.. which means it will no longer be faster. So in order for time saving measures to work, you have to require selectivity.
Or you can increase staffing.
> The idea that this is meant to put tranches of society on display is ludicrous.
It may or may not be meant to put it on display, but it shows it for what it is. People who can afford to pay to save time get prioritized through public infrastructure, and people that do not pay have to wait.
Increasing staffing doesn’t help. It’s a basic queuing problem. You would have to increase the size of the airports along with the staff.. meaning perhaps hundreds of separate lanes, hundreds of separate X-ray machines and belts etc etc.
At my local airport, all security lanes except for one for precheck, are well staffed and move as fast as the passengers allow. The space is already used maximally, however lines are exceedingly long. Switching the precheck lane to regular would have almost no effect on wait times.
Which would increase the cost. You could pay for that by charging everyone more, but many people on their annual trip don't think that the extra $10 on the ticket is worth the 20 minute saving. More importantly they'll choose the airport which is $10 cheaper as they have fewer agents so the peaks aren't smoothed.
Or you can increase staffing.
> The idea that this is meant to put tranches of society on display is ludicrous.
It may or may not be meant to put it on display, but it shows it for what it is. People who can afford to pay to save time get prioritized through public infrastructure, and people that do not pay have to wait.