According to the Tristate Transportation Authority, making certain imp

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.

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?

Question Type: Weaken the Argument

Conclusion: The authority’s plan for securing the necessary funds should be rejected

Task at hand: Find an option that shows that raising automobile tolls on the two high-way bridges is not an effective idea.

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. This may be required by law, but this will not help us show that raising automobile tolls on the two high-way bridges is not an effective idea.

B. Whenever bridge tolls are increased, the authority must pay a private contractor to adjust the automated toll-collecting machines. This may make it seem like increasing the tolls will incur an additional cost and this will, in turn, make it seem like raising automobile tolls on the two high-way bridges is not an effective idea. However, paying a private contractor to adjust the automated toll-collecting machines is a one-time expense at the most. So this does not show that raising automobile tolls on the two high-way bridges is not an effective idea.

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. They may do so, but even if they buy 1000 more tokens than usual, but this will not help us show that raising automobile tolls on the two high-way bridges is not an effective idea.

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. This shows that if the toll is increased, even the number of people who regularly use these bridges and pay toll will stop using these bridges. This shows that show that raising automobile tolls on the two high-way bridges is not an effective idea.

E. The chairman of the authority is a member of the Tristate Automobile Club that has registered strong opposition to the proposed toll increase. The chairman might have opposed the proposed toll increase. But this shows that show that raising automobile tolls on the two high-way bridges is not an effective idea.

- Nitha Jay

Hi,

I chose Option (E). Can anyone explain why it is wrong, please.
OE says Oppositions to increase the toll is expected; it does not mean that the plan is less effective…

"would cast the most doubt on the effectiveness of the authority’s plan...?"

We need to find a reason the plan will not be effective i.e. a reason why once the plan is brought into action, it will fail to provide the required collection. Taking small numbers, say if 100 people cross that bridge everyday and if the toll is increased by $20, the plan expects to collect $2000 per day for the rail line improvements.

(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.

If many people switch their routes, the toll collected will not be according to expectations. Hence the plan may not be effective.

(E) The chairman of the authority is a member of the Tristate Automobile Club that has registered strong
opposition to the proposed toll increase.

The authority has proposed this plan. We are not concerned with who is supporting it and who is opposing it. What we need to do is find why the plan may not work once it is brought into action. A reason why it may not be effective. We are not concerned with whether it will actually be brought into action.

Seriously, why should we assume that B is less costly than D. We have no information whatsoever indicating that the private contractors do not cost much more than the 20% regula commuters who switch to an alternative route. From logic okay, D does weaken the most, but we have to assume a litte right...?

Can the cost of adjusting 20 machines be at all comparable with the toll paid by a huge chunk of commuters for the next 5 yrs?
It's like saying I don't know whether I will become rich if I win the Wimbledon because I will first need to buy a new racket! It's not logical.

Can you please explain why option A is incorrect?

Hi experts,
this question is about efficiency of a plan. and I picked up C
I have a question about this type.
some are judge efficiency by killing the valid of the plan :
such as OG 13, CR# 30
The Eurasian ruffe, a fish species inadvertently introduced into North America’s Great Lakes in recent years, feeds on the eggs of lake whitefish, a native species, thus threatening the lakes’ natural ecosystem. To help track the ruffe’s spread, government agencies have produced wallet-sized cards about the ruffe. The cards contain pictures of the ruffe and explain the danger they pose; the cards also request anglers to report any ruffe they catch.

Which of the following, if true, would provide most support for the prediction that the agencies’ action will have its intended effect?

(D) The ruffe is one of several nonnative species in the Great Lakes whose existence threatens the survival of lake whitefish populations there.

OG13 CR #40
A new law gives ownership of patents—documents providing exclusive right to make and sell an invention—to universities, not the government, when those patents result from government-sponsored university research. Administrators at Logos University plan to sell any patents they acquire to corporations in order to fund programs to improve undergraduate teaching.

Which of the following, if true, would cast the most doubt on the viability of the college administrators’ plan described above?

(D) Government-sponsored research conducted at Logos University for the most part duplicates research already completed by several profit-making corporations.

OG13 CR# 15
A certain automaker aims to increase its market share by deeply discounting its vehicles’ prices for the next several months. The discounts will cut into profits, but because they will be heavily advertised the manufacturer hopes that they will attract buyers away from rival manufacturers’ cars. In the longer term, the automaker envisions that customers initially attracted by the discounts may become loyal customers.

In assessing the plan’s chances of achieving its aim, it would be most useful to know which of the following?

(A) Whether the automaker’s competitors are likely to respond by offering deep discounts on their own products


but others are not, such as this one.

I am a little confused,
any difference ?


waiting for your reply

have a nice day
>_~

Zoe

It all depends on the question asked.

"Which of the following, if true, would provide most support for the prediction that the agencies’ action will have its intended effect?"
You need to find what will support the plan. The correct answer here is
"(C) Most people who fi sh recreationally on the Great Lakes are interested in the preservation of the lake
whitefi sh because it is a highly prized game fish."

"Which of the following, if true, would cast the most doubt on the viability of the college administrators’ plan described above?"
Here you need to cast doubt on the plan i.e. provide a reason why it may not work.

"In assessing the plan’s chances of achieving its aim, it would be most useful to know which of the following?"
In this question, you need to find the option that affects the plan. Whether it strengthens the plan or weakens it is immaterial. But it does need to have an effect on the plan.

Finally in the original question,
"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?"
you need to weaken the plan.

IMO, if the plan takes longer time to execute, then the planned time, which is 5 years, is compromised. So, won't it cast doubt on effectiveness of authority's plan?

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?

The question is about effectiveness of the "plan to finance" the project, not plan to complete the project. Hence option C is wrong.

OFFICIAL EXPLANATION

Evaluation of a Plan
Situation: A transportation authority plans to pay for improvements to a commuter rail line by raising automobile tolls on the two highway bridges along the route the rail line serves. One objection to this plan is that drivers will have to pay for something from which they will not benefit.

Reasoning: What casts doubt on how well the financing plan would work? Any financing plan is based on estimates of costs and revenues, and any factor that significantly increases costs or lowers revenues threatens the effectiveness of that plan. The authority’s plan makes a revenue projection based on the current number of drivers who use the bridges and thus will pay the increased tolls. If there is a precedent that a significant percentage of regular commuters had previously used an alternate route in order to avoid the increased tolls on these specific bridges, then the revenue basis for the financing plan is considerably undermined. If that substitute route has since become an even more appealing alternative, the effectiveness of the plan is further threatened.

A) Objections to the plan at public hearings do not affect how well the financing plan will work.
B) The one-time costs of changing the automatic toll-collectors would not be significant given the five years of revenue from the increased tolls.
C) Revenue lost to token hoarding is insignificant compared to the revenue gained from five years of increased tolls.
D) Correct. This statement properly identifies a factor that weakens the authority’s financing plan.
E) Opposition to the increased toll can be expected; it does not mean that the plan will be less effective.

The correct answer is D.

AjiteshArun Can't we infer from option C that authority plans to finance these improvements over the course of five years may take more than 5 years because many commuters buy more tokens than usual to postpone the effects of the increase?

Perhaps, but just how many tokens are commuters likely to buy?

Keep in mind that we need to mark the best option out of the 5 given to us. Option D does far more damage to the plan than option C does.

hi,
i agree that option d is correct, but it is suggesting something that happened in past.
how can we be sure that same will occur this time. Please throw some light on how to deal
with such options.

We don't have to be SURE about anything! The questions asks, "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?"

The example described in (D) suggests that something similar could happen if bridge tolls are raised again. The fact that this might happen is enough to cast doubt on the plan.

Please any one help:
I chose C.
D: Lost 20% doesn't mean that total revenue lost. And 'last time" doesn't mean that it happens again "this time".
There are many concern about D.

As VeritasKarishma has pointed out, postponing the effects of a toll increase does not negate those effects.

In addition, Choice (C) does not provide any information regarding the amount of time between announcing a toll increase and implementing the increase. It's possible that the Tristate Transportation Authority could simply shorten the amount of time between announcement and implementation, thus minimizing the amount of toll fare that is lost due to commuters buying more tokens than usual.

If (C) were true, the Authority's financing plan may not be fully realized in the optimal amount of time. But the plan is still ultimately effective, and leaves us little to no reason to doubt it.

Now let's compare this to the impact of Choice (D):


As I've mentioned earlier, we should select the answer choice that casts more doubt on the effectiveness of this financing plan than any other answer choice. So if you're going to challenge choice (D), you have to explain how it casts LESS doubt than EVERY other answer choice.

• This is not the same as PROVING that 20% of bridge commuters account for 20% of revenue. We know that 1 of 5 paying commuters took a different route, which logically would result in some loss of toll revenue for that bridge. Even if we don't know the degree of loss, we know that loss of revenue is possible, and that's sufficient to cast doubt on the financing plan.
• This is also not the same as PROVING that bridge commuters will definitely behave the same way in this particular. We know that commuters switched to the alternate route before any improvements to that route were made; this further narrows down the cause of this change to the bridge toll itself. This raises our expectation that increasing tolls in the future could lead to similar behavior, and this is sufficient to cast doubt on the financing plan.

And again, the doubts raised by (D) are greater than anything else raised by the other 4 answer choices. That's why we keep (D) and move on.