Phil, the idea is to get the traffic to where it is going! If you only slow SOME of it down, how does that help?
It just irritates people on the feeder lanes and people who can't get past the stopped traffic to get elsewhere.
The best, -only -solution is more roads nearer the city/destination.
Is Ramp Metering going to make people 20k from the city leave home earlier? Not if they have priority, it isn't. It just makes people in the nearer suburbs' journey to work longer, or forces them to find alternative routes, which is the gist of Tunesmith's original post.

Why should drivers who live miles from the city get priority over those who live nearer? Riddle me that one, Batman.;-)