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 high-way 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.
1.. 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.
2. Which of the following, if true, would provide the authority with the strongest counter to the objection that its
plan is unfair?
(A) Even with the proposed toll increase, the average bridge toll in the tristate region would remain less than the
tolls charged in neighboring states.
(B) Any attempt to finance the improvements by raising rail fares would result in a decrease in ridership and so
would be self-defeating.
(C) Automobile commuters benefit from well-maintained bridges, and in the tristate region bridge maintenance
is funded out of general income tax revenues to which both automobile and rail commuters contribute.
(D) The roads along the route served by the rail line are highly congested and drivers benefit when commuters
are diverted from congested roadways to mass transit.
(E) The only alternative way of funding the proposed improvements now being considered is through a regional
income tax surcharge, which would affect automobile commuters and rail commuters alike.
will provide the OA later on.
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61% (02:01) correct
