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Question

Difficulty: EasyResolving Paradoxes and Apparent Discrepancies

In 2024, a major city launched a public transit initiative that made bus travel entirely free for all residents. Transportation officials expected this program to significantly reduce traffic congestion on city roads by encouraging drivers to leave their personal vehicles at home. However, six months after the policy took effect, traffic congestion on major roadways remained virtually unchanged, despite municipal transit data showing a fifty percent increase in total bus ridership.

Which of the following, if true, most helps to explain the apparent discrepancy described above?

  1. The majority of the new bus passengers were individuals who previously walked or rode bicycles to their destinations rather than driving personal vehicles.Answer
  2. B
    The municipal government increased the frequency of bus departures on all major routes during peak hours to accommodate passenger demand.
  3. C
    Personal vehicle ownership in the city has consistently risen over the past two decades due to steady population growth.
  4. D
    Survey data indicated that residents who continued driving personal cars found free public transit to be inconveniently scheduled.
  5. E
    Neighboring municipalities that did not offer free public transit experienced similar levels of roadway congestion during the same timeframe.

Answer

The apparent paradox is best explained by the fact that the new bus riders were drawn from pedestrians and cyclists rather than former automobile drivers.
The correct answer provides a missing premise that allows both observed facts to be true simultaneously. If the new bus riders previously walked or biked, their shift to bus transit directly accounts for the 50% increase in bus passenger volume while simultaneously explaining why the number of personal vehicles on the road—and thus traffic congestion—did not decline.

Step-by-Step Solution

1
Identify the two conflicting facts presented in the stimulus.
Fact 1: Bus ridership increased by 50% after buses became free. Fact 2: Traffic congestion on major roadways remained virtually unchanged.
Resolving a discrepancy requires identifying the two statements that seem contradictory on the surface.
2
Determine the missing assumption linking the two facts.
The officials assumed that new bus riders would come from existing car drivers.
If new bus riders did not come from car drivers, then car traffic would not decrease despite the surge in bus passengers.
3
Evaluate the options for a factor that reconciles both facts without contradicting either.
The option stating that new passengers previously walked or cycled accounts for both the 50% increase in bus ridership and the lack of change in car traffic congestion.
Shifting pedestrians and cyclists to buses increases bus ridership while leaving the number of cars on the road identical.

Key Concept

Resolving Apparent Paradoxes by Identifying Alternative Data Pools
Estimated Time:1m 30s
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Topics

Resolving Paradoxes and Apparent Discrepancies

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