John Dvorak, professional cranky guy, has a rant at PC magazine about slowdowns in network traffic with an example from the physical world.
Clogs are rampant worldwide. Recently a researcher, comparing the travel times in London through the years, noticed a peculiar consistency. The amount of time it took to go from point A to point B in horse-and-buggy days was actually the same as after the introduction of the car. As things got more efficient, the services were used more, nullifying any benefit and creating a constant. The researcher observed that the point-A to point-B travel times have recently worsened from the pre-car days. No improvements in efficiency have been able to stem this problem.
If you’ve ever been an American commuter you know the story. Cities build huge freeways to ease traffic flow so more people take the freeway so the new freeway clogs up. There are other approaches.