Question

Difficulty: HardIdentification of Main Idea and Supporting Details

Read the passage below carefully:

While municipal planners in rapidly expanding African megacities frequently champion formal Bus Rapid Transit (BRT) networks as the ultimate panacea for urban congestion, the unyielding resilience of informal minibus transit systems demonstrates that high-capacity infrastructure alone cannot resolve urban mobility challenges. Decades of urban transit reforms reveal that commuter reliance on informal minibuses stems not from an aversion to modernization, but from the unmatched spatial flexibility and hyper-local responsiveness these informal operators offer to low-income outer-suburban settlements that formal routes consistently neglect. Although BRT corridors undeniably reduce travel times along major trunk lines and lower per-commuter carbon emissions, their rigid schedules and fixed station locations fail to accommodate the non-linear, fragmented daily travel patterns of informal sector workers. Consequently, sustainable urban mobility depends not on displacing informal operators, but on systematically integrating their operational flexibility with high-capacity public transit infrastructure.

Which of the following statements best expresses the main idea of the passage?

  1. Sustainable urban transport solutions require integrating informal transit networks with formal high-capacity systems rather than replacing them.Answer
  2. B
    Informal minibus transit systems provide greater spatial flexibility and hyper-local coverage than formal Bus Rapid Transit networks.
  3. C
    Formal Bus Rapid Transit networks fail to alleviate traffic congestion because suburban commuters are inherently opposed to modern transit infrastructure.
  4. D
    Municipal authorities should abolish Bus Rapid Transit projects to protect informal sector transport jobs in suburban areas.

Answer

Sustainable urban transport solutions require integrating informal transit networks with formal high-capacity systems rather than replacing them.
The correct answer accurately synthesizes the main idea of the passage. The author establishes that high-capacity infrastructure alone cannot solve urban mobility issues and explicitly concludes in the final sentence that sustainable urban transport requires integrating informal transit networks with formal systems rather than eliminating them.

Step-by-Step Solution

1
Analyze the passage structure and identify key transition words.
The text begins by contrasting formal BRT plans with informal minibus resilience, presents reasons and supporting evidence regarding commuter needs in the middle sentences, and uses the concluding transition 'Consequently' to introduce the central argument.
Main ideas in dense academic passages are frequently anchored by concluding transition words that synthesize preceding arguments.
2
Differentiate between the primary argument and supporting premises.
The details regarding spatial flexibility, reduced travel times along trunk lines, and rigid schedules serve as evidence showing why BRT alone is insufficient. The central thesis encompasses the overall resolution: achieving sustainable mobility through integration.
Supporting details explain 'why' or 'how' a situation exists, whereas the main idea articulates the primary position or takeaway of the entire text.
3
Match the synthesized thesis to the correct option while evaluating distractors.
The statement emphasizing the integration of informal operational flexibility with high-capacity infrastructure over replacement precisely mirrors the concluding synthesis of the passage.
The correct option must cover the full scope of the passage without being overly narrow, inaccurate, or unsupported.

Key Concept

Identifying Central Thesis vs. Supporting Details in Expository Text
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