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> Is it because the criteria is wait time not travel time?

Yeah, it doesn't make any sense to optimize wait time instead of total time from pressing the button to reaching destination.

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It very well could be the case that people get more upset about waiting for the car than total travel time when they are already in the car. Ie, pick them up sooner even if travel time is longer. In fact, I would bet that this is the case.

Having chatted with friends who have gotten stuck in elevators, you definitely should care about total travel time.

In one case, the building was still being commissioned and it took a while for anyone to even realize they were stuck (could spawn a whole discussion about launch processes in itself).

Obviously. I'm talking about waiting for the elevator for 30 seconds, total trip is 2 minutes vs 1 minute 30 sec wait and total trip is 1m45s.

It should be both, I think. Same goes for queuing in the restaurant. Waiting for the table for 5 minutes, then 5 minutes for the waiter, then 10 minutes for the drink, then 25 for the food is better than waiting for the table for 25 and then getting your full order in another 5.

Basically you have an irrational sense of progress even if things get delayed

Human psychology might allow other reasonable criteria even if perfectly rational choice is just total time to destination.

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