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Question

Difficulty: MediumStatement and Assumptions

Read the following scenario and evaluate the given assumptions.

Statement:
"To mitigate the escalating issue of traffic congestion and severe parking shortages in the central business district, the local transit authority has announced a 200% increase in metered parking tariffs starting next week."

Assumption I: A substantial hike in parking tariffs will act as a financial deterrent, discouraging a significant number of commuters from bringing personal vehicles into the business district.
Assumption II: The local transit authority plans to channel the surplus revenue from the increased tariffs into expanding public transportation networks.

Which of the given assumptions is/are implicit in the statement?

  1. Only assumption I is implicitAnswer
  2. B
    Only assumption II is implicit
  3. C
    Both assumptions I and II are implicit
  4. D
    Neither assumption I nor II is implicit

Answer

The correct evaluation is that only the first assumption is implicit in the statement.
The correct answer identifies that only the first assumption serves as a necessary underlying premise. The transit authority is raising prices specifically to reduce parking demand. This policy intervention logically rests on the assumption that a significant financial increase will act as an effective deterrent. The second assumption introduces speculation about future revenue utilization; while plausible, it is not required for the original statement's logic to hold true.

Step-by-Step Solution

1
Analyze the core objective and action outlined in the statement.
The local transit authority is raising parking fees by 200% to reduce traffic congestion and parking shortages.
Identifying the intended cause-and-effect relationship reveals the foundational logic the authority is relying upon.
2
Evaluate Assumption I against the statement's logic.
Assumption I is implicit. For the fee increase to effectively solve the parking shortage, the authority must inherently assume that higher costs will deter people from driving.
An assumption is a required unstated premise; without this belief, the policy action would be entirely pointless.
3
Evaluate Assumption II against the statement's logic.
Assumption II is not implicit. The statement mentions nothing about how the extra money will be spent.
While redirecting funds to public transit is a reasonable real-world expectation, it is an external speculation or inference. It is not logically necessary to make the original statement valid.

Key Concept

Logical Evaluation of Implicit Premises
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Topics

Statement and Assumptions

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