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Difficulty: EasyPassage Assumptions and Underlying Premises

Read the following passage carefully:

"To alleviate chronic urban traffic congestion and reduce carbon emissions, the municipal corporation plans to implement a high-frequency electric bus network across major transit corridors. City planners argue that by making public transportation faster and more reliable than private cars, a significant proportion of daily commuters will switch from personal automobiles to electric buses."

True or False: The city planners' argument relies on the underlying assumption that travel speed and reliability are significant factors in a commuter's choice of transportation.

Answer: Answer

Answer

True. The argument assumes that commuters consider speed and reliability when choosing their transit mode.
The conclusion asserts that enhancing speed and reliability will persuade car drivers to switch to electric buses. This logical bridge holds only if commuters actually value speed and reliability when deciding how to travel.

Step-by-Step Solution

1
Identify the author's main argument and proposed outcome.
The planners claim that offering faster and more reliable electric buses will cause commuters to switch from private cars.
Understanding the core argument is necessary before evaluating its underlying premises.
2
Apply the negation test to the statement.
Negating the statement gives: 'Commuters' choice of transportation is NOT influenced by travel speed and reliability.' If this were true, making buses faster and more reliable would have zero impact on commuters' choices, causing the planners' argument to collapse.
A valid assumption must be essential; negating it invalidates the central conclusion.
3
Determine the truth value of the premise statement.
Since the argument fails without this premise, the statement accurately identifies a necessary underlying assumption of the passage.
Confirms that the statement is True.

Key Concept

Identifying Implicit Premises and Assumptions in Passage Arguments
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Topics

Passage Assumptions and Underlying Premises

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