Critical Reasoning

According to the Tristate Transportation Authority, making certain improvements to the main commuter rail line would increase ridership dramatically. The authority plans to finance these improvements over the course of five years by raising automobile tolls on the two highway bridges along the route the rail line serves. Although the proposed improvements are indeed needed, the authority's plan for securing the necessary funds should be rejected because it would unfairly force drivers to absorb the entire cost of something from which they receive no benefit.

Which of the following, if true, would cast the most doubt on the effectiveness of the authority's plan to finance the proposed improvements by increasing bridge tolls?

(A) Before the authority increases tolls on any of the area bridges, it is required by law to hold public hearings at which objections to the proposed increase can be raised.
(B) Whenever bridge tolls are increased, the authority must pay a private contractor to adjust the automated toll-collecting machines.
(C) Between the time a proposed toll increase is announced and the time the increase is actually put into effect, many commuters buy more tokens than usual to postpone the effects of the increase.
(D) When tolls were last increased on the two bridges in question, almost 20 percent of the regular commuter traffic switched to a slightly longer alternative route that has since been improved.
(E) The chairman of the authority is a member of the Tristate Automobile Club that has registered strong opposition to the proposed toll increase.

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I was down to C and D, and I choose C.
My reason for Rejecting D was almost 20%, which was very Low percentage. Had this been 51% then it could be significant.

GMAT put answers in such a manner that two feuding answers are there and one is more Powerful, but here D seems to be weak, but OA is D, which seems impossible to me.


This is a Gmat PREP Question.

Since you have narrowed down to options C and D, let us focus on these two only.

(C) Between the time a proposed toll increase is announced and the time the increase is actually put into effect, many commuters buy more tokens than usual to postpone the effects of the increase.

Yes, I agree with the fact that some people may buy more tokens. But the important thing here is "postpone the effects of the increase".
The coomuters will be able to postpone the effect and not completely bypass it. After some time, they will have to pay extra money for the tokens.

(D) When tolls were last increased on the two bridges in question, almost 20 percent of the regular commuter traffic switched to a slightly longer alternative route that has since been improved.

This talks about a previous increase in toll. At that time, around 20% people chose a slightly route.
Also, it says that the longer route has since been improved.
So there is not reason not to assume that more people that last time will take the longer route.
And this loss will be irreparable. Here the effect is not just postponed. The earnings are lost here.

Hence the answer should be D

Option D tells about what happened last time. This may or may not happen now & percentage of commuters to change their may be less or more.

I will go with Option C as if commuters but too much tokens then authority's plan to receive to more funds will be doubted. they will receive less funds than expected.

richachampion wrote:According to the Tristate Transportation Authority, making certain improvements to the main commuter rail line would increase ridership dramatically. The authority plans to finance these improvements over the course of five years by raising automobile tolls on the two highway bridges along the route the rail line serves. Although the proposed improvements are indeed needed, the authority's plan for securing the necessary funds should be rejected because it would unfairly force drivers to absorb the entire cost of something from which they receive no benefit.

Which of the following, if true, would cast the most doubt on the effectiveness of the authority's plan to finance the proposed improvements by increasing bridge tolls?

(A) Before the authority increases tolls on any of the area bridges, it is required by law to hold public hearings at which objections to the proposed increase can be raised.
(B) Whenever bridge tolls are increased, the authority must pay a private contractor to adjust the automated toll-collecting machines.
(C) Between the time a proposed toll increase is announced and the time the increase is actually put into effect, many commuters buy more tokens than usual to postpone the effects of the increase.
(D) When tolls were last increased on the two bridges in question, almost 20 percent of the regular commuter traffic switched to a slightly longer alternative route that has since been improved.
(E) The chairman of the authority is a member of the Tristate Automobile Club that has registered strong opposition to the proposed toll increase.

________________________________________________________________________________________________

I was down to C and D, and I choose C.
My reason for Rejecting D was almost 20%, which was very Low percentage. Had this been 51% then it could be significant.

GMAT put answers in such a manner that two feuding answers are there and one is more Powerful, but here D seems to be weak, but OA is D, which seems impossible to me.


This is a Gmat PREP Question.

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Sometimes i feel pictorially depicting the argument helps. C) and D) are indeed contenders of the solution. But C) is about the effect of the plan whereas D) is about what people's reaction was to the toll increase before and is likely to be the same now as well.

Check the image for detailed explanation:



Hope this helps!
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